Folk Songs You'll Like: Four Original Albums

Liner Note Author: Ossie Dales.
Although they were never as well-known as the earlier folk group the Weavers or later commercial folk revival groups like the Kingston Trio, the Easy Riders -- or Terry Gilkyson & the Easy Riders, as they were sometimes billed -- were a bridge between the two eras, made singular by the Easy Riders' fine songwriting ability, particularly Gilkyson's. The trio (Richard Dehr and Frank Miller were the other two members) signed to Columbia Records in 1956, and this two-disc, 48-track set collects four albums released by the group for the label, including 1957's Marianne (And Other Songs You'll Like), 1959's Wanderin' Folk Songs by the Easy Riders, 1960's Rollin', and 1961's Remember the Alamo. Never political or controversial like the Weavers, and more muted, more restrained, and less boisterous than the Kingston Trio, who they heavily influenced, the Easy Riders created the template for the commercially successful trios and quartets of the urban folk boom of the early '60s, even if they never directly benefited from it due to where they fell on the commercial folk timeline. ~ Steve Leggett