Kenny Rogers Archives - Americana One

Review: New Christy Minstrels 1962-1970

By Ken Paulson

–The New Christy Minstrels, a highly commercial folk ensemble formed in 1962, is perhaps best known today for the musical achievements of alumni, including Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes and Gene Clark.

Former band members went on to play in the Byrds, the Association and the First Edition, a measure of the rich recruiting done by founder Randy Sparks.

Documenting that history is The New Christy Minstrels, 1962-1970, a Real Gone Music collection. The excellent liner notes by Tom Pickles document the path of the group from groundbreaking “folk chorus” to a folk corporation with interchangeable parts.

The New Christy Minstrels were lampooned in the film A Mighty Wind, and a handful of tracks here sound like they could have come from the movie soundtrack. The group’s “This Land is Your Land” conveniently excises Guthrie’s lyrics about the inequity of land ownership.

But other songs are quite notable, including five of their six charting singles and the long-shelved “Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings,” a Mickey Newbury song performed by a young Kenny Rogers.

There’s also the oddity “You Need Someone to Love,” a 1970 release featuring session singers rather than group members. It’s a fun bit of pop that could have come from that Fifth Dimension’s catalog.

For New Christy Minstrels fans, this long-awaited compilation will be a real treat. For others, it offers a glimpse into a time when clean-cut Americans with banjos looked like the next big thing.

Follow Sun209: Americana music news at @sun209com.

Kenny Rogers at the Country Music Hall of Fame

Kenny Rogers concluded his two-night run as artist-in-residence at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville tonight with an intimate set and guest appearances by Kim Carnes and songwriter Don Schlitz.
Fans accustomed to seeing Rogers in arena had to be thrilled to catch him in the 213-seat Ford’s Theater at the museum. He said he was going to play the show as though it were his living room, and did exactly that in story and song.

Among the highlights:
– Rogers’ duet with Carnes on Don’t Fall in Love with a Dreamer, a 1980 hit she wrote with her husband Dave Ellingson.
– A moving version of John Hiatt’s “Have a Little Faith in Me”
– Schlitz’s cameo on “I’m the Greatest,” his second hit for Rogers. The first – “The Gambler” launched his career and ignited Rogers’.
-A closing story about meeting Jessi Colter on a plane and how her account of being married to Waylon Jennings inspired Rogers to write “Sweet Music Man.”

Rogers also told the audience about pushing to get the Mel Tillis-penned “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” recorded. He said the producer thought it might be too dark, an understandable concern given the theme of a disabled veteran mulling homicide. Yet the audience erupted with joyous handclaps throughout the song. So much for darkness.
As with all ten artists-in-residence sessions at the Country Music Hall of Fame, this was a rare and sometimes revelatory evening.