Disco de The Highwaymen: “Standing Room Only!”

The Highwaymen (Dave Fisher, Steve Butts, Bob Burnett, and Chan Daniels) were a quartet of Wesleyan University undergraduates who were able to translate their rousing style into a brief period of commercial success. This CD reissues together the group's first two albums. Their 1961 self-titled debut album sold people on the basis of classic singalongs such as "Big Rock Candy Mountain," but also showcased their quieter side in ballads such as "Au Claire de la Lune" and "Cindy Oh Cindy." The quintessential Highwayman song would be "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" which ended up being their most popular hit.

The group's second album, "Standing Room Only!" was released in 1962 and had a couple of hits with "The Gypsy Rover" and "Cotton Fields," a forgotten song written by the legendary Leadbelly that was supposed to be the B-side of a single. Add to those memorable songs some more great tracks, including "Black Eyed Susie" and "Pollerita," and you can see why the Highwaymen were a defining group in the folk scene of the early Sixties.

The Highwaymen sang traditional songs and ballads with a spirited harmony, and their reduced place in the history of the revival of American folk music is due simply to their preference to entertain audiences rather than engage in consciousness-raising. Consequently, they fall into the Kingston Trio, New Christie Minstrels, et al. category of folksingers as opposed to the politically oriented singers such Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Phil Ochs. However, once you get passed the idea that you were more likely to see the Highwaymen on "The Ed Sullivan Show" than at a civil rights protest meeting, you can enjoy their work.

Note: The group was originally named the Clansmen, because they sang a lot of Scottish and Irish songs on campus. After they were introduced to the meaning of the term outside of the northeastern part of the United States they changed their name to the Highwaymen, after the Alfred Noyes poem (which was set to music by Loreena McKennitt not too long ago).

I got the first Highwayman album when I was a kid and deep into folk music. Admittedly, I never got another one, but I just about played the grooves off the record. I thoroughly enjoyed every cut on the album. It's amazing to me that my old record is still in fairly decent condition. Those five guys were straightforward about their delivery of music and presented it the way I'm sure it was intended by the songwriters. All these years later, I got this double-album CD. I heard "Standing Room Only!" for the first time and was elated at the progress the Highwaymen made with their harmony, their greatly increased prowess and expansion of intruments. The improvement in the banjo work alone is most worthy of merit. Adding the occasional autoharp was a jewel of an idea. That poor instrument is pathetically underrated. In all, it seems to me that the group relaxed a bit on the second album and enjoyed making the music even more than on the first album. anyway, I've got two gems in one neat little package. I've gotta rate this CD five stars. It's what music is all about.

I, too, bought all of the Highwaymen albums in the 1960's, and I still have them but othing to play them on! My only complaint is that they did not re-release the other albums on CD as they did their first two. I especially enjoyed the songs that they played in French and Spanish.

How can two totally different groups have the same name? This group I never heard of. I thought copyright laws protected against this.