For very nearly 20 years I have carried around with me an
amateur recording of this trio in concert. I have all but worn it out.
What a delight therefore to be presented for review with this much
better recording!
In 1984, folk superstar Tom Paxton, teamed up with the then relatively
unknown Anne Hills, and the by then almost shamefully neglected Bob
Gibson, to form a trio. As they were the best of friends, they had no
problem when it came to finding a name. Alas, they only lasted some 18
months, and they were never to go into the recording studio: but some
of us were blessed to see them on their tours of the US, Canada and the
UK. They were a trio that has never been bettered, and perhaps never
even been equalled. A truly mellifluous blend of voices and
musicianship.
This CD is the result of the taping of a gig in February 1985 at
Holsteins, a Chicago club. The recording was subsequently broadcast on
WFMT-FM. And thus it is that we miraculously find it seeing the light
of day as a 2004 CD, which thus serves as the only official aural
documentation of this lamentably gone-far-too-soon grouping.
What did they have exactly? Well, whatever it was, it was GREATER than
the “sum of the individual parts”… and heaven knows, they were great
enough in themselves.
I don’t think I need say anything about Paxton: if you don’t know just
what he brings to the microphone and the songbook, then perhaps you
alighted at the wrong website! A true giant, with the warmest of
baritone voices and great skill with harmonies.
Anne Hills brings the kind of purity of vocal tone to the proceedings
that would make even spring mountain water seem polluted. And to boot,
whilst not a well-known writer, shows she is no slouch at the art, with
“While You Sleep”, a fine song that I have heard in my head at least
monthly for some 20 years now.
But then there is the late Bob Gibson. Now here is the guy that really
made them tick. A reason why perhaps they never got back together
again, was that he fell very sick with the same rare progressive nerve
disease that killed actor Dudley Moore (supranuclear palsy) and was
himself to die in 1996. But heck, while he was around, he didn’t half
pull his weight in this group!
Although he was a noted exponent of the 12-string guitar, it is his
plaintive banjo that delights here…added to his gentle tenor voice that
neatly complements Paxton’s more earthy baritone. The tracks are all of
a high standard no dud tracks here folks to be used as Polyfilla
but that said, some really jump out at you. None more so than
Bob’s own co-written “Let The Band Play Dixie” which is a candidate for
my favourite song of all time. Oh those words! And those
rhymes! And what a chorus!
And if you thought that the chewing gum had lost its flavour with
“Rambling Boy”, try that old favourite again here. They almost turn the
chorus into a version of singing “rounds”: very inventive. And there’s
the late Shel Silverstein’s opening song - “Sing for the Song” - which
they deliver with real brio: a song that should be the philosophy of
every true folkie.
And mentioning that much-threatened species: every true folkie should
get out and buy this album. It is April as I write, and I can
safely say that you will not find its equal in the rest of the year.
Dai Woosnam
Grimsby, England
daigress@hotmail.com
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