The Brother Four - Rally `Round (1960)

The Brothers Four bear a distinction as one of the longest surviving groups of the late-'50s/early-'60s folk revival and perhaps the longest running "accidental" music act in history, without any break and with two original members still in the fold. If few recognize that distinction, then it's because the Brothers Four were also part of a largely forgotten chapter in the history of folk music in America.

Most accounts of the post-WWII folk music boom focus on the political and issue-oriented branch of the music, embodied by Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, at the expense of the softer, more entertainment-oriented branch, embodied by the likes of the Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and The Brothers Four. Those acts and the music they made - though it sold well and, indeed, for many years defined what most Americans visualized when the phrase "folk music" was mentioned - are scarcely mentioned in most histories; The Brothers Four aren't even listed in the Guinness Who's Who of Folk Music.

"Rally 'Round the Brothers Four", the folk quartet's non-charting second album, contains the minor hit "My Tane," sometimes spelled "My Tani," their ill-fated follow-up to "Greenfields." The album contains a typical assortment of seafaring songs, traditional folk songs, and novelties.

Despite the acoustic instrumentation and folk material, the arrangements frequently incorporate pop music devices such as modulating up a semitone or shifting from minor to major keys.

In 1960, commercial folk groups in rapidly increasing numbers were recording many of the same songs, but the Brothers Four at least put their own stamp on tried and true repertoire like "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and "Beneath the Willow." Some of the group's later albums, on which they worked with less obvious material, are superior to the comparatively nondescript "Rally 'Round the Brothers Four".      

Tracklist:

A1	Nine Pound Hammer
A2	My Tane
A3	Beneath The Willow
A4	The Gallant Argosy
A5	The Proposal
A6	Hey Liley, Liley Lo
B1	Ellie Lou
B2	The Fox
B3	Marianne
B4	Blue Water Line
B5	Follow The Drinkin' Gourd
B6	Sally, Don't You Grieve

The Brother Four - Rally `Round (1960)
(256 kbps, cover art included)