The Cumberland Trio
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The Cumberland Trio

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"The Cumberland Trio's Unique Sound"

GATLINBURG, Tennessee- Folk Music's most popular and recognizable feature is the three-part harmony that most folk groups employ. Some of them carry off this close.knit vocal sound better than others, as finding three voices that can carry the harmonies while blending in to sound almost in unison is very difficult.

Playbill for July 30, 1964
The Cumberland Trio's brand of blended harmony is a one in a thousand occurrence, and when knowledgeable listeners first hear them perform, they immediately recognize and appreciate their incredibly smooth and close harmony vocals. Interestingly, despite their ability to sound as one, each of the Trio's three singing members possesses his own distinctive vocal characteristics. The Trio, with bassist Jim Shuptrine's guidance, has also arranged complicated crossover harmonies, similar to those of the Four Freshmen, and incorporated "ninths", to complement the traditional "thirds", into their verses and choruses.

The Trio has also blazed new ground instrumentally. Andy Garverick continues his intricate "Scruggs-style" banjo picking, and "Pete Seeger" frailing, even when singing lead verses or harmony choruses, a talent not shared by other folk group banjo players to my knowledge. Tom Kilpatrick plays an almost snare drum sound in a frailing style on his Jose Ramirez Flamenco nylon string guitar that adds a unique syncopated rhythm. This is supplemented by Jerre Haskew's smooth and steady Martin D-28 high capoed conventional strumming, with Jim's base notes "playing in the pocket" created by this innovative rhythm guitar style. Andy and Jerre have also developed several unique banjo-picking duets harmonizing with each other on such songs as "Grandfather's Clock", "Home Sweet Home" and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown".

Like many other successful and better known folk groups, the Trio includes a great deal of original material in their repertoire, written by Jerre and his wife, Barbara and close friend Hilary Lipsitz. Jerre has also written original verses and arrangements modifying many of the public domain tunes they sing, such as "South Australia," "Old Blue," "Ride The Chariot" and "John Henry".

As the folk music world eagerly awaits their debut RIC Records LP due out July 15, having heard them live in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for the past week, and on an advance master tape, I can assure you it will be well-received and frankly a breath of fresh air.

- July 8, 1964
Blair Northwood
Contributing Editor
Copyright The Folk Music Scene

- Folk Scene Magazine


"Folk Music Trio Reunited for UT Homecoming"

In 1964 the Cumberland Trio was on the edge of a dream.

The group (actually three singers and a bass player) was made up of University of Tennessee students Jerre Haskew, Andy Garverick, Tom Kilpatrick and Jim Shuptrine. The young men had just had a successful spot on the ABC-TV program "Hootenanny," had played for enthusiastic audiences at college campuses, and were awaiting the release of their debut album.

The group was prepared to join the Kingston Trio; Peter, Paul and Mary; the Chad Mitchell Trio and other collegiate folk groups as a top-selling music act.

Yet before the year was out the dream was over.The group's record company went bankrupt, and in a span of a few months folk groups went out of fashion. The Cumberland Trio's unreleased album gathered dust. The group split, its members pursuing nonmusical careers.

Tonight, however, the Cumberland Trio will reunite for their first concert since 1965. And the group's debut album, recorded 37 years ago, has just been released.

The Cumberland Trio's performance at 8 p.m. today at the Bijou Theatre is part of the UT Homecoming celebration, and proceeds will benefit the UT School of Music Scholarship Fund.

"We had what we thought was a real shot," said Haskew from his Chattanooga office.

It did seem that way.

Haskew, Garverick, Kilpatrick and Shuptrine formed the group in late 1962. Their debut was in competition in UT's Carnicus celebration in the spring of 1963. They won the competition and followed by competing in the National Collegiate Folk Festival in
Jacksonville, Fla. The group won there as well - beating out such contenders as The Hillmen, which featured future Byrds member Chris Hillman, and future country music star Vern Gosdin.

The Cumberland Trio's local popularity soared, and when ABC decided to film two "Hootenanny" shows at UT in January 1964, the Cumberland Trio was invited to perform. On the same show were Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, Doc Watson and Homer
and Jethro, as well as young Kenny Rogers singing with a folk group called The New Christy Minstrels, Carly Simon and her sister billed as the Simon Sisters, and an 18 year old Paul Simon singing with a folk group called the Goldbriars.

The "Hootenanny" appearance led to a recording session in Nashville - with Chet Atkins producing - and an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry as guests of Archie Campbell. With an album's worth of music already recorded, RCA Records offered the group a
recording contract with a then-standard 2 percent royalty rate. "Then another company came along and offered us a 10 percent royalty rate," Haskew recalled.

The company was the Recording Industries Corporation, which had recently opened offices in Nashville and New York. "Even Chet told us we should go with RIC," Haskew said. The group drove to New York and began recording.

While in the city the group performed at the Bitter End, one of the city's legendary music clubs. A young comic named Bill Cosby opened the show.

When the recording was complete the group returned to Knoxville and rented a theater that adjoined the Greystone Hotel in Gatlinburg. The Cumberland Trio would hone their act and make some money with twice-daily shows while waiting for the release
of their album.

But the album release continued to be pushed back. In September, the group found out that the RIC was bankrupt.

"Then the folk music scene that had been so popular just fell off the planet," Garverick said.

RCA was no longer interested.

Haskew's wife, Barbara, was offered a teaching job at Memphis State University, and Jerre took a job at a Memphis bank, was in banking for over 25 years and then became a successful talk-radio host and consultant in Chattanooga. Kilpatrick finished his law degree and set up practice in Atlanta. Garverick joined the Marines and, after finishing graduate studies at UT, became a banker and consultant. Shuptrine moved back to Chattanooga and became a successful art broker.

The members made an attempt to update the group's sound, but decided to call it quits instead.

"Music became a hobby," Haskew said.

In the late 1960s Haskew located one of the founders of RIC Records who agreed to sell the Nashville tapes to Haskew for $100.

The members have remained in contact through the years, but it wasn't until Barbara Haskew decided to surprise her husband with a special 37th wedding anniversary gift that the Cumberland Trio became active again.

Barbara enlisted artist Patricia Mayes to illustrate the lyrics to Haskew's song "A Lion Named Sam" for a children's book. After receiving the book, Haskew had the RCA recording of the song remastered and pressed on CD for inclusion in the book. At the
encouragement of the engineer, Haskew had the rest of the recordings restored as well.

Haskew sent copies of "Sam" to a long list of friends, including Dave Roberts, director of the UT Alumni Association. Roberts broached the idea - The Knoxville News Sentinel


Discography

1)The Cumberland Trio- The RCA Sessions 1964, produced by Chet Atkins at famed Stuido B at RCA Nashville & remastered to CD and released in 2000.
2) The Cumberland Trio- Reunion Concert Live!- CD & DVD 2001- 2 1/2 hour live concert recorded at The historic Bijou Theatre Center, Knoxville, TN.
3) The Cumberland Trio- Back Where We Began- CD & DVD 2004- another 2 1/2 hour reunion concert recorded at the historic Bijou Theatre Center, Knoxville, TN. This concert is completely different in musical content from the 2001 release.

All of the above CDs & DVDs are available for purchase at www.cdbaby.com/thecumberlandtrio. The

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Bio

The Cumberland Trio, a prominent folk group from the Southern USA that originated in the '60s Folk Era, reunited for a 2nd time on September 24, 2004 once again at the historic Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, TN, for another official Reunion Concert, "Back Where We Began," which was captured in brilliant digital stereo, and features a 2 Disc CD, 29 song, 2 1/2 hour rousing concert happening, in front of a raucous and appreciative sold out SRO audience!! It has also been released as a DVD, also available on www.CDBaby.com type The Cumberland Trio in the search box. This new concert release has been praised by such Folk Icons as Mike Kirkland of The Brothers Four, Bob Shane of The Kingston Trio and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds as a Landmark Folk Recording that should be in all "folkies" and bluegrass fans' CD and DVD collections. Shane is quoted as saying, "This is a MUST recording for any folk music fan, as these guys were/are as good as anybody in the business. Had in not been for the emergence of the Beatles in 1964, they would be folk legends." The Cumberland Trio appeared on three episodes of ABC-TV's prime Saturday night prime time music show, "Hootenanny," in the mid-'60s and broke up in 1965 after the British Invasion. The ORIGINAL Trio, Andy Garverick, Jerre Haskew & Tom Kilpatrick, reunited in 2001 for a special live Reunion Concert (also available on on 2 Disc CD on their site on CDBaby) and continue to perform today to sold out audiences at intimate venues across the USA, as well as at large, multi-genre music festivals. The "Back Where We Began" 2 Disc CD (also available on DVD on their site on CDBaby)is brilliantly produced by Steve Wallace of CWSMultimedia.com and features a wide variety of songs, spanning the generations from the Folk Boom of the '60s to the present. To categorize this band's music genre is almost impossible, as it's music consists of hard-driving folk/bluegrass, folk and folk pop ballads, folk rock, reggae, blues, pop, as well as classical and traditional Southern gospel. Vocally, this landmark CD features the Trio's unique close harmonies and unique individual solo voices of each of the three members. Instrumentally, it features the great innovative driving and soft Scruggs, chromatic, rhythm and frailing banjo styles of Andy Garverick, the incredible unique lead/rhythm guitar and autoharp of Tom Kilpatrick, the high end guitar and banjo rhythm of Jerre Haskew, the high end acoustic upright bass and sensational comedy routine by original Trio bassist Jim Shuptrine, the solid bottom of Bob Wilkerson on electric bass, the versatile Don Cassell on mandolin chops and solo breaks- and most importantly, the almost unbelievable dobro playing of Lou Wamp, nicknamed the "wizard of string" who is recognized as one of the top 3 dobro players in the world alongside the great Jerry Douglas and Rob Ickes. Lou also plays in his multi-talented unique style on violin/fiddle and cello in this incredibly varied musical experience. Adding to this great lineup as Guest Artist is the GREAT nationally known singer/songwriter (Susan) Taylor Pie, who had a .. 1 hit on the Billboard POP charts in 1968 while she was the lead singer for the famed Pozo Seco Singers of the folk rock era. Pie performs that great song,"Time," as well as two of her other signature modern era songs, backed by the Trio and Band. Both Taylor Pie and Lou Wamp also have incredible solo CDs available here on CDBaby. Lastly this concert is incredibly entertaining, featuring funny songs, "Sam" the Lion and famed University of Tennessee football mascot, "Smokey" the hound dog in lively and fun interaction with the Trio and the audience. In short, it's a really good time created by a great group of singers and musicians fueled by an enthusuastic audience that loved them back! The Cumberland Trio reunited in 2000 with the release of their 1964 RCA LP remastered to CD, produced by the late GREAT guitarist and producer Chet Atkins and has now recorded two live reunion concerts (2001 & 2004) on 2 Disc CD and this new 2004 release also on DVD. The Trio continues to perform concerts at music halls & major festivals. Their music is being played on major NPR/Americana/Bluegrass/Folk music radio stations across the USA and in Europe. In addition PBS has broadcasted the Trio's newly released 2004 reunion concert DVD within Tennessee in December of 2006, with plans to syndicate it to other PBS stations throughout the USA in 2007-2008. The truly amazing thing is that unlike most half-baked reunion attempts by other '60s folk era artists, they are all original and even better than they were back then!!