The Brothers Four introduce Bob Dylan to Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples was one of the recent Kennedy Center Honorees. A video that introduced her recounted how in the early 60's Bob Dylan met her on a TV show, fell in love with her, and eventually asked her to marry him. That story is shared at around the 4 minutes mark of this video.

The fun part for me is that the TV show was hosted by The Brothers Four! You can see them singing as Bob and Mavis walk by. The group from left to right: Dick Foley, Mike Kirkland, Bob Flick, and John Paine.

It is hard to believe it has been nearly 60 years since those guys started singing together at the University of Washington and 48 years ago this month that I was chosen to replace Mike Kirkland . No one could ever have imagined we would still be singing and enjoying it as much or more than ever. There are a couple of photos of the original group and one of the current group at the soundcheck for a show in Port Townsend a few months ago.

It has been my good fortune to have met a lot of people in the music business. The nicest of all are the founding members of The Brothers Four. I would like to say thanks to them for making my career possible and to all of you, a Happy and musical New Year!

The audios are studio recordings of the original group. "Greenfields" was the group's career song and "Try to Remember" helped sustain that career.

Left to right in the most recent Brothers Four photo: me, Mike McCoy, Bob Flick, and Karl Olsen