Charleston Trio

The Charleston Trio has a somewhat strange background as a band name, never seeming to have anything to do with either the dance of that name nor any cities named Charleston. In the case of this Charleston Trio, the name was used more as a marketing tool than a sincere attempt to establish a band identity. An earlier Charleston Trio had combined three '20s studio session men whose material was released under a variety of other names, but nothing issued from their session as the Charleston Trio. In the mid-'60s, three talented brothers were busy singing together in recording studios and some of this material wound up being released under the name of the Charleston Trio. Musical researchers who head for a town mentioned in a song title or band name in order to locate a missing recording artist would have been gone far afield attempting to link this Charleston Trio to either West Virginia or South Carolina. The Glaser family was from Nebraska. Tompall Glaser, Chuck Glaser, and Jim Glaser were the youngest of six children and were raised in a farming community. The boys had a professional singing trio from the time they were young teenagers, getting their first professional break in 1957 by winning Arthur Godfrey's Talent Show on television. The brothers continued to appear on television and joined up with country balladeer Marty Robbins' touring revue. In 1958, the Glaser brothers relocated to Nashville and began recording, including a cover of "Yakety Yak," more Coasters than Charleston. Decca signed the brothers as a folk act, but the Glasers grazed in a country meadow instead. Their involvement with Robbins was crucial, singing on hits such as "El Paso" and as composers contributing "Running Gun" to Robbins' rich repertoire of western writing. The vocal trio also...