A Medley of Folk Songs, Japan 1990

For a number of years beginning in the early 70’s the piano played an important part in a Brothers Four performance. Founding member Dick Foley played the piano beautifully. The thinking was that by adding the piano the group might be more contemporary and not be seen simply as a nostalgic folk band. (It was that same mindset that had Bob Shane add a drummer to the lineup of The New Kingston Trio around that same time.) After a while the piano became a natural part of The Brothers Four sound. When Dick left the group in 1991 the decision was made to return to traditional folk instrumentation.

This particular performance was recorded in 1990 and aired on the Japanese TV show Music Fair in the fall of 1991. Singing this medley of folk songs was a way to introduce some great songs featuring each guy on a song. We enjoyed it. The audience agreed.

The group continues to do a number of medleys in our show. We do a medley of calypso songs, of railroad songs, songs in the ragtime style, in a bluegrass style. We also do a medley of songs from the musical Man of La Mancha.