Bud Dashiell & the Kinsmen

One-half of folk-pop duo, Bud and Travis, Bud Dashiell briefly fronted the Kinsmen in the early-60s. The trio, which also featured Bernie Armstrong and C. Carson Parks, released a self-titled studio album in 1961. After a tour of the United States, they released a live album, Live Concert Extraordinary, in 1965. A native of Paris, France, Dashiell was raised by an American correspondent father and a British mother who had appeared in the Folies Begere. Growing up on the east coast of the United States, at the site of the first Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia, he taught himself to play guitar. Inspired by the music of Eric Darling of folk-singing group, the Weavers, who he met when both performed at the Inquisitor, a folk music coffeehouse in Vancouver, British Columbia, he began teaching himself to play country and bluegrass tunes. Enlisting in the U.S. Army, Dashiell rose to the rank of First Lieutenant and Battery Commander in Field Artillery during the Korean War. His experiences, however, left him disillusioned and forced him to re-evaluate his political convictions. A semi-regular performer on Skip Weshner's radio show on New York's WBAI-FM, Dashiell met Travis Edmondson, an anthropology student-turned-folksinger, at the radio station studios. Informally performing together, during one broadcast, the two folksingers sounded as though they had been collaborating forever. Some listeners called the station to inquire where they could buy an album by the duo. Encouraged by the positive response they received, Dashiell and Edmondson agreed to continue performing together as Bud and Travis. The first act to be extended a month at New York nightspot, the Blue Angel, the duo went on to perform sold out shows throughout the United States. Although their...