Lyric Theatre In Downtown Stuart

“Tom Dooley.” “Scotch and Soda.” “Tijuana Jail.” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.” It could only be the Kingston Trio. For folk music-loving college students in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, the Kingston Trio were superstars. The very first top-selling folk act, in the days between Elvis and the Beatles, the trio — Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds, and Bob Shane — made folk music immensely popular among many millions of listeners who previously had ignored it. Their infusion of light calypso sounds (the Kingston in the group’s name is a reference to Jamaica and one of their heroes, Harry “Banana Boat Song” Belafonte) made their lives shows exciting in a way that more traditional folk artists couldn’t approach. The hardcore folkies, predictably — those who worshipped at the feet of Woody Guthrie and the Weavers — felt that the Kingston Trio had cheapened the folkloric value of the music by making a commercial success out of it. Did that bother the Kingston Trio? In 1959 alone, the group made the cover of Life magazine, earned two Grammy Awards were voted the Best Group of the Year by both Billboard and Cashbox magazines, the recording industry bibles. So no, they weren’t bothered. They knew they were onto something good. In fact, it’s possible that Peter, Paul & Mary, Joan Baez and even Bob Dylan would never have been recognized, signed or made famous if the Kingston Trio hadn’t paved the way for mass acceptance of folk music. The Trio has been a breeding ground for singer/songwriters, too — John Stewart, later of “Gold” fame, replaced Dave Guard in 1961 and stayed a member for six years. Today, nearly 50 years after the original guys came together — as college students — in Palo Alto, California, the Kingston Trio consists of Bill Zorn, George Grove and Rick Dougherty. “This Trio,” writes the Knoxville News-Sentinel, “has the same drive and tight vocal harmonies for which the group is famous.”