The Limeliters

Along with the Kingston Trio, the Limeliters were one of the most successful folk groups of the early 1960s, a time when the folk music revival was in itself a sort of backlash against the anti-establishment rock & roll generation. The original group consisted of Glenn Yarbrough, vocal and guitar (b.1930), Lou Gottlieb, vocal and bass (1923-1996), and Alex Hassilev, vocal, guitar, and banjo (b.1932). In 1959, Gottlieb, a former jazz pianist and member of the folk group the Gateway Singers had just completed his doctoral thesis on 15th century cyclic masses when he heard Hassilev and Yarbrough sing together at Hollywood's Cosmo Alley nightclub. Enchanted with the vocal blend, Gottlieb suggested that the three of them team up to make demos for the Kingston Trio, with Gottlieb himself providing arrangements of traditional folk songs and some original material. The trio jelled so well that they struck out on their own, naming themselves after the Limelite club in Aspen, Colorado, where they had honed their sound and perfected their stage act. That summer, a successful stint at San Francisco's hungry i led them to their recording debut for Elektra and then a series of best sellers for RCA Victor. As individuals, the Limeliters were each extraordinarily talented, but emotionally incompatible (Hassilev often referred to the group members as "the Bicker Brothers"). Hassilev had a rich, robust voice and was adept at a variety of languages. Gottlieb was an arranger and composer in addition to having a brief career as a stand-up comic. And Yarbrough possessed one of the purest, most exquisite voices on the planet. Unlike many other groups, the Limeliters' individual voices were never lost when singing together. Yarbrough's soaring tenor, Gottlieb's baritone in the middle, and...