For those unaware, The Highwaymen were an American folk group of the early 1960’s, very much a part of the coterie of folk bands who emerged from the college folk scene of that era, typified also by The Kingston Trio and The Brothers Four. They made a huge impact in 1960 with their single Michael (Row The Boat Ashore), which was a No.1 on both sides of the Atlantic.

However, their main focus was their album career, and this 39-track collection comprises all the titles from their first three albums The Highwaymen, Standing Room Only! and Encore, from which came their hit singles hit Michael, (Row The Boat Ashore), plus their other hits The Gypsy Rover, Cotton Fields, I’m On My Way.

Also included is their US chart entry The Bird Man, with narration by Burt Lancaster, which did not come from one of the albums. The collection primarily features traditional material arranged by lead singer Dave Fisher, plus other folk standards. They were a group that remained faithful to the roots of their music, while performing in the contemporary style of the folk boom of that era, and this is an enjoyable showcase for their distinctive approach.

In my humble opinion, it’s just too easy enough to dismiss the Highwaymen as representatives of a brand of folk music that has gone out of fashion, at least among the media tastemakers. Their kind of harmony singing, coupled to traditional songs and ballads, has seldom been written of in the decades since their heyday. What’s more, their late-50’s collegiate origins, as a quintet whose purpose was to foster entertainment more than to raise consciousnesses, belonged more to the setting of the hootenanny than the anti-war teach-in or the political rally.

They stand alongside the Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio, the New Christie Minstrels, the Serendipity Singers, and the Brothers Four on the losing side of the early-60’s battle between the folk-pop acts and the more confrontational and politically oriented species of folk singer represented by Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Tom Rush.

But the Highwaymen did have a major impact on the folk scene of the early 1960s. Apart from a couple of major hit singles, and appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, they contributed a couple of future standards to the folk repertory (Big Rock Candy Mountain, All My Trials), played a key role in the unearthing of a major, overlooked Leadbelly song, which later became a major new addition to the repertories of both Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Beach Boys, and also made the first recordings, or the first American recordings, of seminally important songs by Buffy St. Marie and Ewan McColl, respectively.

The Highwaymen evolved during the course of the early 1960s. From the relatively innocent era of the late 1950s, their awareness of folk music grew. By 1964, they were cutting songs by the Almanac Singers (who were certainly among the most politically motivated of folk groups during the early 1940s) and important new material by songwriters such as Tom Paxton (Rambling Boy).

Indeed, the group could have continued indefinitely - between the members, especially songwriters Dave Fisher and Gil Robbins, and their manager, they’d shown a knack for composing or choosing good songs, and a respectable ear for songs that would become important, so that their clean-cut early ’60s image (and their association with the aforementioned early 60s hit Michael, Row The Boat Ashore) was not a drag on their audience appeal as they moved into the more confrontational middle of the decade.

The Highwaymen might’ve followed Peter, Paul & Mary and jumped across that chasm separating the folk-pop outfits from the harder, more topical political singers of the era, but for the fact that three of its members, Burnett, Daniels, and Butts, had never intended to dedicate their whole lives to music. Rather, the music was fun, and, as it turned out, a means to an end, in the form of relative financial security. They’d never planned on doing it for more than two years, and by 1964 were already passing that time limit.

The group’s final UA album, The Spirit and the Flesh, appeared in the fall of 1964, and they disbanded soon after, Dave Fisher and Gil Robbins continuing with music while Bob Burnett, Chan Daniels, and Steve Butts all entered graduate school. As the parting had been amicable, however, there was nothing to stop the occasional get together of the quintet. Various members reunited over the next few years in different configurations, and the original group appeared at a show called The Great Folk Festival that was broadcast by ABC in 1974.

Chan Daniels passed away in 1975, but the surviving members played a pair of anniversary concerts at Wesleyan University in 1987. A brief confrontation - settled amicably with the Waylon Jennings-Willie Nelson-Johnny Cash-Kris Kristofferson country outfit using the same name - led to a joint concert by the two groups of Highwaymen in October of 1990.

In January of the following year, the original Highwaymen were playing together again at the annual World Folk Music Association concert in Washington, D.C., and after that resumed concertizing on a semi-regular basis.

Disc 1:
Santiano; Big Rock Candy Mountain; A La Claire Fontaine; Carni Valito; Ah Si Mon Moina; Sinner Man; Michael (Row The Boat Ashore); Take This Hammer; Au Claire De La Lune; Greenland Fisheries; Irish Work Song (Pat Works On The Railway); Cindy Oh Cindy; Cotton Fields; Black Eyed Suzie; Rise Up Shepherd; Nostalgias Tucumanas; Three Jolly Rogues; Pollerita; The Gypsy Rover; The Calton Weaver

Disc 2:
Wildwood Flower; Johnny With The Bandy Legs; The Great Silkie; Run Come See Jerusalem; Whiskey In The Jar; Bim Bam; Eres Alta; Railroad Bill; Fiesta Linda; Little Boy; Lonesome Road Blues; I’m On My Way; Die Moorsoldaten; Ballad Of Spring Hill; El Rancho Grande; Fare Thee O Babe; Mighty Day; Cindy, Oh Cindy; The Bird Man

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