Who played the lead guitar solo on S.F. Bay Blues? Well, I played on one recording of it, on Greenfields & Other Gold. I played it on my Yamaha 12-string. It was also my solo in live performances, although I do recall that Dick Foley had played it before I took it on. How talented of musicians were the original group? The boys were all casual musicians to start, playing around the frat house and on campus for fun. They could play well enough to put together a credible show and get a contract on Columbia, although Milt Okun, their producer, did bring in some studio musicians to help out. Dick Foley actually played a cymbal with brushes initially before he picked up the guitar. I don't think any of them actually studied music until later. Dick is now an excellent guitar player and a pretty decent piano player too. Bob Flick, besides being proficient on the bass, is a composer and arranger. John Paine played pretty good rhythm guitar, but he never really studied it seriously - just enough to do the gig. I don't know too much about Mike Kirkland's abilities, but he played both banjo and guitar well enough to get by. I know Eric Weissberg played some of the banjo stuff on the early recordings, though. What happened to Terry Lauber? I didn't know anything happened to him! (Just joking...) He left the group when John Paine retired. He and Dick Foley have done a recording project together. It's available on Alan Shaw's label, Folk Era. I'm looking forward to hearing what they've done. Was Dick Foley's alliance with Yarbrough et al a one shot deal or is he looking to revive his career? Well, I guess you'd have to ask him about that. I know Dick enjoys singing and entertaining, but I don't think he wants to do it full time. He has a couple other careers now that keep him pretty busy (he consults in the medical field and he assists his wife in a multi-level marketing business that sells health supplements.) Like I said above, I'm looking forward to hearing the project he did with Terry Lauber. As for the Glen Yarbrough collaboration, that was a one-shot deal for all involved. I thought Dick was out of place in that project, standing in Glen's shadow. Dick is an immense talent in his own right and I don't think he was allowed to shine as a back-musician for Glen. Who was this Tom Coe fellow you spoke so highly of and what happened to Bob Flick that prompted him to depart in the 70's? Bob was busy with his production company at the time and I think he just wanted to get away from the group for awhile. We auditioned several different bass players to replace him, and in fact, I even went to Reno to audition the bass player who was playing with the New Christie Minstrels at that time. It was on that trip that I first met Bill Zorn, who was the leader of that group. Tom Coe was a rock 'n' roll bass player who lived in Seattle. I have no idea why we chose him - he didn't play upright bass and he was quite a bit younger that the rest of us. He had no background in folk music, but maybe that was part of our decision to use him. Remember, folk music was not really in vogue in the mid-1970's and I imagine that we had intentions of up-dating our sound to be more contemporary. Look at our pictures at that time - we all went through a phase of long hair and facial hair of one sort or another. While we still performed the obligatory hits, we also added some original music to the show, as well as some material that really stepped out of the genre in a way. ("Cover Of The Rolling Stone" and "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" come to mind.) I was playing a Johnny Smith jazz guitar and a pedal steel on stage and Dick was doing quite a bit of electric keyboard stuff. So, whether that was because we had Tom or whether we got Tom to help us move in that direction, I can't say. Ultimately, it was not the right thing for the group, both in terms of style and repertoire as well as image. I think we were all glad when Bob decided to return. I lost touch with Tom for many years after he left the group. Out of the blue he found me on the internet with quite a story about the direction his life had taken since leaving us. He claimed that he'd gone to work for the CIA or something, had been a spy in Russia, married a Russian spy and was then living in Oregon. He claimed that he had invented an energy system based on gravity and even sent me some very detailed and over-my-head scientific data to corroborate his claims. He said he had a major conventional energy company trying to buy him out so they could squelch the technology. The stuff he sent me looked pretty impressive and legitimate, but I had a scientist friend of mine look at it and he told me it was all a fantasy. To bad - I would have bought the home energy system he was trying to sell me with the claim that it would make me totally independent from my current utilities provider. I haven't heard from Tom since I called his bluff on that. He always was a bit eccentric, to say the least. Good bass player though, and sang well. Not in the Brothers Four style as we know it, though. I doubt if you'd ever find this (although who knows what might turn up in a thrift store in Michigan) but the one album that Tom Coe recorded with us is called simply, "The Brothers Four". It was released on the CBS-Sony label, #SOPM-61. Play list includes: People Got To Be Free / She (Dick Foley composition) / Before I'm Gone (Bob Haworth composition) / Someone Who Cares / Keep The Customer Satisfied / Medley: Without You, Without Her / Love The One You're With / Sadder But Wiser Man (John Paine composition) / Girl, My One And Only (Tom Coe composition) / Country Road / I Believe In Music. Original cost: 2100 Yen. Dan finished by asking: And Finally...have you given any thought to staging your own "Great Folk Revival" tour? Ron Fitz also had some questions that started that thread back in July. Sorry, but those will require another writing session to answer, as they'll take some deep thought about life-style issues in addition to expounding on opinions about the music business as I know it. I've printed out the questions, though - I'll get on it soon - I promise!
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