The Highwaymen

The Highwaymen stand alongside the Kingston Trio and the New Christie Minstrels on the losing side of the early-'60s battle between the folk-pop acts and the more confrontational and politically oriented folksinger. Although history's view of folk music in the latter half of the 20th century focused on social change and protest, the Highwaymen did have a major impact on the folk scene of the early '60s. Apart from a couple of major hit singles, 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 Lead Belly song, and also made the first American recordings of seminally important songs by Buffy Sainte-Marie and Ewan MacColl. ~ Bruce Eder