Dave Guard
Encyclopedia
Donald David "Dave" Guard (born October 19, 1934, San Francisco, California
- died March 22, 1991) was an American folk singer, songwriter, arranger and recording artist. Along with Nick Reynolds
and Bob Shane
, he was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio
.
Guard was educated in Honolulu, Hawaii
, at Punahou School
in what was then the pre-statehood U.S. Territory of Hawaii. Upon completion of his final year of high school in 1952 at Menlo School
, a private prep school in Menlo Park, California
, he matriculated at nearby Stanford University
, graduating in 1957 with a degree in economics.
While an undergraduate at Stanford, Guard started a pickup group with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane. Guard called his group Dave Guard and the Calypsonians, with a Weavers
-style signature sound that was principally two guitars, a banjo, and rollicking vocals. Guard kept the group together after Reynolds and Shane left, changing the name of the Calypsonians to The Kingston Quartet. Then in 1957, when Reynolds and Shane agreed to team up with Guard again, the group changed its name to The Kingston Trio
. Under contract with Capitol Records
, the Trio became a huge commercial and influential success.
and guitar music masterfully performed by the many of his neighbors and beach boys.
Guard attended Punahou School, a private school established in 1849 by Hawaii's New England missionary families during junior high school and high school. Hawaiian culture and music played an important part in his school's educational program. Along with all his other classmates Guard early on learned to play Hawaii's ubiquitous ukulele in a 7th grade junior high school music class required of all students. It was in that class that Punahou's young 7th graders like Guard and his future Kingston Trio partner-to-be Shane learned the basics of playing the ukulele. The "ukulele" class made an impact on Shane, who during the next four years progressed steadily from the 4-string ukulele to the less toy-like and more professional appearing baritone uke, on to the tenor guitar, and finally to the 6-string acoustic guitar. According to Guard, his own first serious exposure to stringed instruments came from Shane, who taught him the rudiments of playing the six-string guitar.
Guard participated in sports, and was a member of Punahou's ROTC battalion. In his junior year he participated in musical skits along with a number of other classmates who, like himself, had by that time also had become accomplished musicians. Guard left Punahou at the end of his junior year, completing his final year of high school at the Menlo School, a private prep school that helped him prepare for acceptance and matriculation at nearby Stanford University
. At Stanford Guard was a member of the Beta Chi chapter of Sigma Nu
fraternity.
and vocalist Barbara Bogue, making the Calypsonians a quartet. Later, when Reynolds also left the Calypsonians, Guard replaced him with Don MacArthur to keep the quartet format intact, but by that time the national interest in calypso
rhythms was waning, while Guard's musical growth was reaching out from calypso as well. Still appreciating Caribbean
rhythms and vocals, but given his more eclectic
folk music interests, Guard changed the name of the four Calypsonian
s to The Kingston Quartet.
With material gathered from a variety of sources, under Guard's musical arrangements and direction, the Kingston Trio quickly became a success. Guard, Shane and Reynolds worked well together. In addition to developing the characteristic "Kingston Trio sound" of the group's two guitars and a banjo, success came to the group from Guard's musical arrangements and renditions of folk and Irish ballads, Shane's talent for style and performance along with an innate knowledge of what pleased audiences, and Reynolds' management of the group's logistics.
The Kingston Trio with Guard recorded for Capitol Records
; subsequent iterations of the group managed first by Werber and Shane and later by Shane alone recorded for Decca Records
, Folk Era, Silverwolf, Pair, Collector's Choice Music, CEMA, and MCA
, and had many hit songs in its initial ten-year run. The Kingston Trio's many songs include "Tom Dooley
," "A Worried Man," "Hard Travelin'," "Tijuana Jail," "Greenback Dollar," "Reverend Mr. Black," "Sloop John B.," "Scotch And Soda," "Merry Minuet," "Hard, Ain't It Hard," "Zombie Jamboree
", "M.T.A.", "Three Jolly Coachmen," and "Raspberries, Strawberries."
By late 1960, Guard's frustration and discontent with his partners, combined with an alleged embezzlement
of the group's finances, had reached a point where he no longer wanted to work with Reynolds and Shane. Giving his partners notice that he intended to leave the Trio, and unwilling to cause the group he had founded to disband, Guard agreed to stay on with the Trio until his personal commitments were completed, and until Shane and Reynolds were able to find a suitable replacement for him. By early 1961 Shane and Reynolds had found a replacement for Guard. After a reportedly acrimonious meeting with Shane, Reynolds, and the Trio's business manager over the future of the Trio, Guard quit the group. The group continued to perform for six years as the Kingston Trio before disbanding in 1967, with John Stewart taking Guard's place.
, with Judy Henske
, Cyrus Faryar
, and Kingston Trio bassist David "Buck" Wheat. They toured and released an album and were asked to perform several folk songs on the Academy Award-winning soundtrack of How the West Was Won
. Their voices can be heard on "The Erie Canal", "900 miles", "The Ox Driver", "Raise A Ruckus Tonight". Cyrus Faryar can be heard performing solo on the track "Wanderin'" and Dave Guard on "Poor Wayfarin' Stranger". Judy Henske featured solo on "Careless Love". Judy Henske was eventually replaced by Liz Seneff, but the Whiskeyhill Singers were disbanded in late 1962 after Guard left for Australia.
Dave Guard and The Whiskeyhill Singers recorded their first album at Henry Jacobs' studio at Sausalito
, and it was released on the Capitol record label
. A second album was recorded at the same private studio, but it was never released. The soundtrack to How the West Was Won was the group's final recorded appearance to be released commercially.
, Australia
, where he purchased a home overlooking the South Pacific Ocean at Whale Beach
. He performed both under his own name, anonymously and under an alias as a supporting musician and vocalist on Australian recording sessions with, among others, Lionel Long, The Twiliters, The Green Hill Singers, Tina Date and The Tolmen. He also anonymously recorded many sound clips for radio and TV commercials. In 1964, Guard became the folk music consultant on the ABC-TV
program Jazz Meets Folk, and he hosted his own ABC-TV national variety show
, Dave's Place
, on Sunday nights for 13 weeks in late 1965. Four episodes of Dave's Place featured Judy Henske as a guest performer.
Until his return to the United States
in 1968, Guard gave guitar lessons and, with the help of his wife, Gretchen, wrote a book, Colour Guitar, describing a unique guitar teaching method relating music theory to a 12-valued chain of chords with color.
Guard's relationship with the Trio remained strained while he was in Australia
. According to Guard, while he was in Australia, he was never in contact with Reynolds and Shane, and he never heard any of their albums.
Following his return from Australia 1968 and his wife's 1970 graduation from Stanford with a degree in art, Guard and his wife collaborated in researching, writing, and publishing a book on the ancient Irish folk tale, Deirdre of the Sorrows, followed by a second book about a 400-year old Hawaiian folk tale.
to record and produce Pure Gabby, an album of classic Hawaiian melodies played with slack key tunings. Guard tried to interest major record companies with Pure Gabby, but met with little interest, and he shelved the project. In 1978, ten years after his return from Australia, at the urging of Singer colleague, Cyrus Faryar, who had heard Guard's Pure Gabby tapes, Guard contacted Hula Records of Honolulu about Pure Gabby, which agreed to take the recordings and distribute the album.
In the 1970s, Dave Guard recorded a live album at The Ice House in Pasadena
. His backing group on this album was The Modern Folk Quartet, which included former Whiskeyhill Singer Cyrus Faryar. The album was turned-down by Capitol and was never released.
During the 1980s Guard continued to perform as a soloist and teach music. He did four tracks on a 12-track cassette recorded to accompany the "All Along the Merrimac" tour of New Hampshire and a final solo album, Up & In (1988), which received mixed reviews. One interesting aspect of both of the last two releases was Guard's performance of the Kingston Trio standard "Scotch and Soda," which he had arranged in 1956 but which for thirty years had been performed in The Trio only by Bob Shane.
Over the years following his return to the US, Guard worked with a number of people, including Alex Hassilev
, Mike Settle
, Judy Henske
, Cyrus Faryar
, Tim Buckley
, Tommy Makem
and David White
.
Dave Guard remarried during this time, and lived with his wife in Los Altos, California
.
sometime after he moved to Rollinsford, New Hampshire
. On March 22, 1991, aged 56, he succumbed to the cancer. His passing was noted and memorialized by the many good friends he had made and those he had helped both in and outside of the music industry during the ensuing years. In 2000 The Kingston Trio was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame
.
He was survived by his wife Gretchen, their children, Sally, Catherine and Tom, and Guard's mother, Marjorie. Guard's daughter Sally died in 2001, also from cancer.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
- died March 22, 1991) was an American folk singer, songwriter, arranger and recording artist. Along with Nick Reynolds
Nick Reynolds
Nick Reynolds was an American folk musician and recording artist. Reynolds was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio, whose largely folk-based material captured international attention during the late fifties and early sixties.- Early life :Growing up in Coronado, California, his...
and Bob Shane
Bob Shane
Bob Shane is an American singer and guitarist and, with Nick Reynolds' passing in October 2008, the only surviving founding member of The Kingston Trio. In that capacity, Shane became a seminal figure in the revival of folk and other acoustic music as a popular art form in the U.S...
, he was one of the founding members of The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
.
Guard was educated in Honolulu, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, at Punahou School
Punahou School
Punahou School, once known as Oahu College, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaii...
in what was then the pre-statehood U.S. Territory of Hawaii. Upon completion of his final year of high school in 1952 at Menlo School
Menlo School
Menlo School, also referred to simply as Menlo, is an independent college preparatory school in Atherton, California, near the heart of Silicon Valley. Menlo comprises a middle school that includes grades 6–8 and a high school that includes grades 9–12...
, a private prep school in Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
, he matriculated at nearby Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, graduating in 1957 with a degree in economics.
While an undergraduate at Stanford, Guard started a pickup group with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane. Guard called his group Dave Guard and the Calypsonians, with a Weavers
The Weavers
The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. They sang traditional folk songs from around the world, as well as blues, gospel music, children's songs, labor songs, and American ballads, and selling millions of records at the height of their...
-style signature sound that was principally two guitars, a banjo, and rollicking vocals. Guard kept the group together after Reynolds and Shane left, changing the name of the Calypsonians to The Kingston Quartet. Then in 1957, when Reynolds and Shane agreed to team up with Guard again, the group changed its name to The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
. Under contract with Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, the Trio became a huge commercial and influential success.
Early life
Guard spent his early years first in San Francisco, and then his junior high school and high school years in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. Guard grew up hearing the soft vocal melodies and strummed guitars of Hawaiian music. He was particularly attracted to the unique rhythmic sounds of finger-picked slack-key ukuleleUkulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
and guitar music masterfully performed by the many of his neighbors and beach boys.
Guard attended Punahou School, a private school established in 1849 by Hawaii's New England missionary families during junior high school and high school. Hawaiian culture and music played an important part in his school's educational program. Along with all his other classmates Guard early on learned to play Hawaii's ubiquitous ukulele in a 7th grade junior high school music class required of all students. It was in that class that Punahou's young 7th graders like Guard and his future Kingston Trio partner-to-be Shane learned the basics of playing the ukulele. The "ukulele" class made an impact on Shane, who during the next four years progressed steadily from the 4-string ukulele to the less toy-like and more professional appearing baritone uke, on to the tenor guitar, and finally to the 6-string acoustic guitar. According to Guard, his own first serious exposure to stringed instruments came from Shane, who taught him the rudiments of playing the six-string guitar.
Guard participated in sports, and was a member of Punahou's ROTC battalion. In his junior year he participated in musical skits along with a number of other classmates who, like himself, had by that time also had become accomplished musicians. Guard left Punahou at the end of his junior year, completing his final year of high school at the Menlo School, a private prep school that helped him prepare for acceptance and matriculation at nearby Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. At Stanford Guard was a member of the Beta Chi chapter of Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
fraternity.
Professional life and accomplishments (1955 - 1961)
When Shane left the Calypsonians and returned to Hawaii to work in his family's business, Guard added two additional members, bassist Joe GannonJoe Gannon
Joe Gannon is a Philadelphia native, recording producer, director, musical stage lighting and production designer. Gannon operated and managed Frank Zappa’s record company and produced records for CBS. He worked as road manager for Bill Cosby and staged Madonna's first film appearance...
and vocalist Barbara Bogue, making the Calypsonians a quartet. Later, when Reynolds also left the Calypsonians, Guard replaced him with Don MacArthur to keep the quartet format intact, but by that time the national interest in calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
rhythms was waning, while Guard's musical growth was reaching out from calypso as well. Still appreciating Caribbean
Caribbean music
The music of the Caribbean is a diverse grouping of musical genres. They are each syntheses of African, European, Indian and native influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves...
rhythms and vocals, but given his more eclectic
Eclecticism in music
Eclecticism is used to describe a composer's conscious use of styles alien to his nature, or from one or more historical styles. The term is also used pejoratively to describe music whose composer, thought to be lacking originality, appears to have freely drawn on other models .-Sources:* Kennedy,...
folk music interests, Guard changed the name of the four Calypsonian
Calypsonian
A calypsonian , originally known as the chantwell is a musician, from the Anglophone Caribbean, who sings songs called calypso. Calypsos are musical renditions having their origins in the West African griot tradition...
s to The Kingston Quartet.
The Kingston Trio
In 1956 a publicist in the area, Frank Werber, offered his services to Guard and his bandmates, including Reynolds at the time. Werber's offer, however, was contingent upon replacing Gannon and Bogue, and shortly thereafter, both left the group. Guard and Reynolds contacted former Calypsonian member Shane (who was performing part time in Honolulu) asking him to join the reconstituted group. In 1957, back again as a trio as in their previous college days, they changed its name to The Kingston Trio.With material gathered from a variety of sources, under Guard's musical arrangements and direction, the Kingston Trio quickly became a success. Guard, Shane and Reynolds worked well together. In addition to developing the characteristic "Kingston Trio sound" of the group's two guitars and a banjo, success came to the group from Guard's musical arrangements and renditions of folk and Irish ballads, Shane's talent for style and performance along with an innate knowledge of what pleased audiences, and Reynolds' management of the group's logistics.
The Kingston Trio with Guard recorded for Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
; subsequent iterations of the group managed first by Werber and Shane and later by Shane alone recorded for Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, Folk Era, Silverwolf, Pair, Collector's Choice Music, CEMA, and MCA
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
, and had many hit songs in its initial ten-year run. The Kingston Trio's many songs include "Tom Dooley
Tom Dooley (song)
"Tom Dooley" is an old North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio. This version was a multi-format hit, reaching #1 in Billboard, the...
," "A Worried Man," "Hard Travelin'," "Tijuana Jail," "Greenback Dollar," "Reverend Mr. Black," "Sloop John B.," "Scotch And Soda," "Merry Minuet," "Hard, Ain't It Hard," "Zombie Jamboree
Jumbie Jamberee
Jumbie Jamberee is a calypso song credited to Conrad Eugene Mauge Jr. In 1953 Lord Intruder released the song as the B-side to Disaster With Police. The song is also known as Zombie Jamboree and Back to Back...
", "M.T.A.", "Three Jolly Coachmen," and "Raspberries, Strawberries."
Guard's break with the Trio
Guard was aware that among the Kingston Trio, he was the only one who could read music and who had some understanding of music theory; his partners basically played by rote, and the three of them sang in simple three-part harmony. With help from the Trio's bassist and musicologist David "Buck" Wheat, Guard embarked on a self-education program of learning more about harmony, and becoming more and more disenchanted with what appeared to him to be a lack of willingness or effort to "improve" on the part of his partners.By late 1960, Guard's frustration and discontent with his partners, combined with an alleged embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
of the group's finances, had reached a point where he no longer wanted to work with Reynolds and Shane. Giving his partners notice that he intended to leave the Trio, and unwilling to cause the group he had founded to disband, Guard agreed to stay on with the Trio until his personal commitments were completed, and until Shane and Reynolds were able to find a suitable replacement for him. By early 1961 Shane and Reynolds had found a replacement for Guard. After a reportedly acrimonious meeting with Shane, Reynolds, and the Trio's business manager over the future of the Trio, Guard quit the group. The group continued to perform for six years as the Kingston Trio before disbanding in 1967, with John Stewart taking Guard's place.
The Whiskeyhill Singers
In 1961, shortly after leaving the Trio, Guard formed a new group, The Whiskeyhill SingersWhiskeyhill Singers
The Whiskeyhill Singers were formed in early 1961 by Dave Guard after he left The Kingston Trio. Guard formed the Singers as an attempt to return to the Trio's earlier roots in folk music. The Singers lasted about six months before disbanding...
, with Judy Henske
Judy Henske
Judy Henske is an American singer and songwriter, once known as "the Queen of the Beatniks".-Life and recording career:...
, Cyrus Faryar
Cyrus Faryar
Cyrus Faryar is an American folk musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was active in musical, theatrical, and performance events in high school. After graduating from high school and attending college, he became involved in the entertainment industry, opening the first coffee house in...
, and Kingston Trio bassist David "Buck" Wheat. They toured and released an album and were asked to perform several folk songs on the Academy Award-winning soundtrack of How the West Was Won
How the West Was Won (film)
How the West Was Won is a 1962 American epic Western film. The picture was one of the last "old-fashioned" epic films made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to enjoy great success. It follows four generations of a family as they move ever westward, from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean...
. Their voices can be heard on "The Erie Canal", "900 miles", "The Ox Driver", "Raise A Ruckus Tonight". Cyrus Faryar can be heard performing solo on the track "Wanderin'" and Dave Guard on "Poor Wayfarin' Stranger". Judy Henske featured solo on "Careless Love". Judy Henske was eventually replaced by Liz Seneff, but the Whiskeyhill Singers were disbanded in late 1962 after Guard left for Australia.
Dave Guard and The Whiskeyhill Singers recorded their first album at Henry Jacobs' studio at Sausalito
Sausalito, California
Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
, and it was released on the Capitol record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. A second album was recorded at the same private studio, but it was never released. The soundtrack to How the West Was Won was the group's final recorded appearance to be released commercially.
Dave's Place
In late 1962 Guard moved with his family to SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, where he purchased a home overlooking the South Pacific Ocean at Whale Beach
Whale Beach, New South Wales
Whale Beach is a northern beachside suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Whale Beach is located 40 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Pittwater Council, in the Northern Beaches region.At the northern end just off the...
. He performed both under his own name, anonymously and under an alias as a supporting musician and vocalist on Australian recording sessions with, among others, Lionel Long, The Twiliters, The Green Hill Singers, Tina Date and The Tolmen. He also anonymously recorded many sound clips for radio and TV commercials. In 1964, Guard became the folk music consultant on the ABC-TV
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
program Jazz Meets Folk, and he hosted his own ABC-TV national variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
, Dave's Place
Dave's Place
Dave's Place was a national Australian weekly musical variety television show starring Dave Guard, formerly of The Kingston Trio and The Whiskeyhill Singers. Guard as host was joined each Sunday night with Dave's Place Group, performing several folk songs...
, on Sunday nights for 13 weeks in late 1965. Four episodes of Dave's Place featured Judy Henske as a guest performer.
Until his return to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1968, Guard gave guitar lessons and, with the help of his wife, Gretchen, wrote a book, Colour Guitar, describing a unique guitar teaching method relating music theory to a 12-valued chain of chords with color.
Guard's relationship with the Trio remained strained while he was in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. According to Guard, while he was in Australia, he was never in contact with Reynolds and Shane, and he never heard any of their albums.
Following his return from Australia 1968 and his wife's 1970 graduation from Stanford with a degree in art, Guard and his wife collaborated in researching, writing, and publishing a book on the ancient Irish folk tale, Deirdre of the Sorrows, followed by a second book about a 400-year old Hawaiian folk tale.
Pure Gabby
After the breakup of the Singers in 1961, Guard had returned to Hawaii. Always a folk music eclectic, Guard attempted to publicize the slack-key sounds of Hawaiian folk guitar. Guard worked closely in Honolulu with slack-key guitar icon Gabby PahinuiGabby Pahinui
Charles Philip "Gabby" or "Pops" Pahinui was a slack-key guitarist.Gabby was born Charles Kapono Kahahawaii Jr. and later hānai-ed into the Pahinui family as Charles Philip Pahinui and raised in the Kaka'ako area of Honolulu in the 1920s...
to record and produce Pure Gabby, an album of classic Hawaiian melodies played with slack key tunings. Guard tried to interest major record companies with Pure Gabby, but met with little interest, and he shelved the project. In 1978, ten years after his return from Australia, at the urging of Singer colleague, Cyrus Faryar, who had heard Guard's Pure Gabby tapes, Guard contacted Hula Records of Honolulu about Pure Gabby, which agreed to take the recordings and distribute the album.
Later years
In 1981, Guard reunited with Shane and Reynolds for a PBS fundraising concert and program entitled "The Kingston Trio and Friends Reunion." He also made occasional concert appearances with John Stewart, his replacement in the Trio who was by then a respected and successful solo performer. In addition to writing and recording, Guard also found time to produce the video Workout for Equestrians with Ingrid Gsottschneider for Golden Arrow Enterprises.In the 1970s, Dave Guard recorded a live album at The Ice House in Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. His backing group on this album was The Modern Folk Quartet, which included former Whiskeyhill Singer Cyrus Faryar. The album was turned-down by Capitol and was never released.
During the 1980s Guard continued to perform as a soloist and teach music. He did four tracks on a 12-track cassette recorded to accompany the "All Along the Merrimac" tour of New Hampshire and a final solo album, Up & In (1988), which received mixed reviews. One interesting aspect of both of the last two releases was Guard's performance of the Kingston Trio standard "Scotch and Soda," which he had arranged in 1956 but which for thirty years had been performed in The Trio only by Bob Shane.
Over the years following his return to the US, Guard worked with a number of people, including Alex Hassilev
Alex Hassilev
Alex Hassilev is one of the founding members of the group The Limeliters and produced the rock album The Zodiac : Cosmic Sounds. He was educated at Harvard and the University of Chicago. He is an actor with a number of film and television appearances to his credit. He is also a musician,...
, Mike Settle
Mike Settle
Mike Settle, is an American songwriter, journalist, broadcaster and singer. He is most famous for being a member of the Rock band Kenny Rogers & The First Edition between 1967 and 1970...
, Judy Henske
Judy Henske
Judy Henske is an American singer and songwriter, once known as "the Queen of the Beatniks".-Life and recording career:...
, Cyrus Faryar
Cyrus Faryar
Cyrus Faryar is an American folk musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was active in musical, theatrical, and performance events in high school. After graduating from high school and attending college, he became involved in the entertainment industry, opening the first coffee house in...
, Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...
, Tommy Makem
Tommy Makem
Thomas "Tommy" Makem was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, guitar, tin whistle, and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone...
and David White
David White (musician)
David White toured the country with his parents prior to attending school in their acrobatic/hand-balancing act called Barry and Brenda and Company....
.
Dave Guard remarried during this time, and lived with his wife in Los Altos, California
Los Altos, California
Los Altos is a city at the southern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city is in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 28,976 according to the 2010 census....
.
Death
Guard had contracted lymphomaLymphoma
Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...
sometime after he moved to Rollinsford, New Hampshire
Rollinsford, New Hampshire
Rollinsford is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,527 at the 2010 census. Rollinsford includes Salmon Falls Village.-History:...
. On March 22, 1991, aged 56, he succumbed to the cancer. His passing was noted and memorialized by the many good friends he had made and those he had helped both in and outside of the music industry during the ensuing years. In 2000 The Kingston Trio was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame
Vocal Group Hall of Fame
The Vocal Group Hall of Fame was organized to honor outstanding vocal groups throughout the world. It is headquartered in Sharon, Pennsylvania, United States. It includes a theater and a museum....
.
He was survived by his wife Gretchen, their children, Sally, Catherine and Tom, and Guard's mother, Marjorie. Guard's daughter Sally died in 2001, also from cancer.
The Kingston Trio
- The Kingston TrioThe Kingston Trio (album)The Kingston Trio is The Kingston Trio's debut album, released in 1958 . It entered the album charts in late October 1958, where it resided for nearly four years, spending one week at #1 in early 1959...
1958 (Capitol) - ...from the Hungry i...from the Hungry i-Personnel:*Dave Guard – vocals, banjo, guitar*Bob Shane – vocals, guitar*Nick Reynolds – vocals, tenor guitar, bongos, conga*David "Buck" Wheat – bass-Chart positions:-External links:* *...
1959 (Capitol) - Stereo ConcertStereo ConcertStereo Concert is The Kingston Trio's second live album, released in 1959 . It was never released in monaural—unusual for a record release in 1959....
1959 (Capitol) - At LargeAt LargeIn reviewing At Large for Allmusic, music critic Bruce Eder wrote the album "shows in the far more complex sound achieved by the trio throughout this album, with voices and instruments more closely interwoven than on their earlier studio recordings and achieving control over their volume that, even...
1959 (Capitol) - Here We Go Again!Here We Go Again!Here We Go Again! is an album by American folk music group The Kingston Trio, released in 1959 . It was one of the four the Trio would have simultaneously in Billboard's Top 10 albums during the year. It spent eight weeks at #1 and received an RIAA gold certification the same day as At Large...
1959 (Capitol) - Sold OutSold Out (Kingston Trio album)Sold Out is an album by American folk music group The Kingston Trio, released in 1960 . It was their third LP to reach #1, stayed there for twelve weeks, and received an RIAA gold certification the same year. "El Matador" b/w "Home From the Hill" was its lead-off single, though it just made the Top...
1960 (Capitol) - String AlongString AlongString Along is an album by The Kingston Trio, released in 1960 . It was their fifth studio album in a row to reach number one on the Billboard charts and remained there for ten weeks. String Along received an RIAA gold certification in 1962, a year after Dave Guard had left the group. It was the...
1960 (Capitol) - The Last Month of the YearThe Last Month of the YearThe Last Month of the Year is an album of Christmas music by The Kingston Trio, released in 1960 . It became the first Kingston Trio album release to fall below expected sales and Capitol withdrew the album from circulation shortly after its release...
1960 (Capitol) - The Kingston Trio Sings for 7-UP 1960 (TV commercial)
- Make Way 1961 (Capitol)
- Goin' PlacesGoin' Places (Kingston Trio album)Goin' Places was the tenth album by the American folk music group The Kingston Trio, released in 1961 . It peaked at number three on the Billboard charts and spent 41 weeks in the Top 40. The lead-off single was "You're Gonna Miss Me" which failed to chart. It's B-side was "En El Agua"...
1961 (Capitol) - Live At NewportLive at Newport (Kingston Trio album)Live at Newport is a live album by the American folk music group The Kingston Trio, released in 1994 . It contains a performance by the trio at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island...
1994 (Capitol) - The Kingston Trio and Friends Reunion 1994 (DVD)
- The Capitol YearsThe Capitol Years (Kingston Trio album)The Capitol Years is a compilation of the American folk music group The Kingston Trio's recordings from their time with the Capitol Records label.-History:...
1995 (Capitol) - The Capitol Collector SeriesCapitol Collectors Series (Kingston Trio album)Capitol Collectors Series is a compilation of the American folk music group The Kingston Trio's recordings from their time with the Capitol Records label. It contains songs from both the Dave Guard and John Stewart trios...
1998 (Capitol) - The Best of Kingston Trio Vol 1-3 (Capitol)
- The Kingston Trio: The Guard YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Guard YearsThe Kingston Trio: The Guard Years is a compilation of The Kingston Trio's recordings when Dave Guard was a member of the Trio along with Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds....
1997 (Bear Family)
Top 40 hit singles
- Tom Dooley 1958 (Capitol) #1 Gold hit record
- The Tijuana Jail 1959 (Capitol) #12
- M.T.A. 1959 (Capitol) #15
- A Worried Man 1959 (Capitol) #20
- El Matador 1960 (Capitol) #32
- Bad Man Blunder 1960 (Capitol) #37
The Whiskeyhill Singers
- Dave Guard & The Whiskeyhill Singers 1962 (Capitol)
- Whiskeyhill Singers 2nd Album (unreleased) (1962)
- How The West Was Won: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 1963 (MGM)
- The Kingston Trio Capitol Years 1995 (Capitol)
Dave's Place Group
- Dave's Place 1965 (ABC-TV Australia). Apart from the archived records of the ABC-TV show, no recordings were ever made by this group that consisted of Dave Guard (guitar & vocal), Chris Bonett (bass & vocal), Len Young (drums) and Frances Stone (vocal). Early in the series, Stone was replaced by Kerrilee Male, who in turn was replaced by Norma Shirlee Stoneman towards the middle of the season.
Solo career
- Up & In, 1988 (Folk Era, later re-released on Silverwolf) Dave Guard
- All Along the Merrimac, 1986 (Four tracks on the Folk Era cassette to accompany a touring show with Dave Guard, The Shaw Brothers and The White Mountain Singers)
- Pure Gabby, 1978 (Hula) Gabby Pahinui (producer)
Arranger
- All My Sorrows (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- Banua (Traditional (Arr by Dave Guard))
- Bay Of Mexico (Traditional (Arr by Dave & Gretchen Guard))
- Blow Ye Winds
- Bonnie Hielan' Laddie (with Joe Hickerson)
- Buddy Better Get On Down The Line (with Jane BowersJane BowersJane Bowers was a Texas folk singer and songwriter best known for her composition "Remember the Alamo". Many of her songs were primarily recorded by The Kingston Trio.-Selected songs:...
) - Bye Bye Thou Little Tiny Child
- Come All Ye Fair And Tender Ladies (with Gretchen Guard)
- Coplas (Traditional (Arr by Dave Guard))
- Corey Corey (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- Coventry Carol (Bye Bye Thou Little Tiny Child)
- Dodi Li (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- Don't Weep Mary (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- Dorie (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- Farewell Adelita (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- Getaway John
- Go Where I Send Thee (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- Goober Peas
- Gue' Gue (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- Haul Away
- The Hunter (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- Little Maggie
- Oh, Cindy (with Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds & Frank Werber)
- Oh, Yes, Oh (with Gretchen Guard)
- Pay Me Money Down
- Sail Away Ladies
- Scotch and Soda
- Sing We Noel
- Santy Anno
- Somerset Glouchestershire Wasail (with Erich Schwandt)
- Three Jolly Coachmen
- When The Saints Go Marching In (Traditional, Arr. by Dave Guard)
- With You My Johnny (with Bob Shane & Nick Reynolds)
- You're Gonna Miss Me (with Mike Seeger, Tom Paley & John Cohen)
- You Don't Knock
- A Worried Man (with Tom Glazer)
Original Songs Composed With Jane Bowers
- Coast Of California
- Senora
- When I Was Young
External links
- Mr. Guard and the Other Two - Essay on Dave Guard and The Kingston Trio
- Folk U.S.A. - Archived vintage Kingston Trio audio and video clips.
- Life Magazine Cover
- Indepth time line
- Capitol Recording Session
- The Kingston Trio
- Vocal Group Hall of Fame
- The Whiskeyhill Singers
- Popular Folk Musics 1991 Dave Guard memorial edition.
- Richie Unterberger's liner notes for Whiskeyhill Singers reissue.
- Liner Notes
- Obituary (NY TIMES)
- Guard's Production of Album Pure Gabby
