THE GREENBRIAR BOYS

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THE GREENBRIAR BOYS (ORIGINAL LINE-UP, 1958):

• JOHN HERALD, vocals, lead guitar
• BOB YELLIN, banjo, tenor vocals
• ERIC WEISSBERG, banjo, mandolin, dobro, fiddle
  (replaced by RALPH RINZLER in 1959)

BUDDY PENDLETON, violin, also perfomed with THE GREENBRIAR BOYS during some of their 1961 gigs.

GREENBRIAR BOYS <--> DYLAN CONNECTION

• Between Sep 25 and Oct 8, 1961, Dylan was the supporting (opening?) act for The Greenbriar Boys at Gerde's Folk City.
• Robert Shelton's Sep 29, 1961 New York Times review of his appearance on Sep 26, 1961 (most likely) basically launched Dylan's career.

JOHN HERALD:
Dylan took us by storm when he opened for us that gig. He was getting a bigger hand than we were... We were supposed to be the main act, and he just won the place over...

DAVE VAN RONK:
He had the audience in the palm of his hand... It was an unbelievable performance.

Robbie Woliver, Hoot! A 25-Year History of the Greenwich Village Music Scene, St. Martin's Press, 1986, pp. 79-80.

ROBERT SHELTON:
They [The Greenbriar Boys] were not an easy act to follow, but Dylan followed superbly... Bob started a typical set with "I'm Gonna Get You, Sally Gal," in a lively tempo. He set up a three-way conversation between his voice, guitar, and mouth harp. Suddenly you saw how he could share stage with as brilliant a trio as The Greenbriars...

The audience responded more to Dylan's wit than to his slow, serious, intense material. Audience reaction led him to play Chaplinesque clown. He closed with his own "Song to Woody," suspensefully built to keep attention focused on each line...

Robert Shelton, No Direction Home, Penguin, 1987, pp. 108-109.

ERIC WEISSBERG <--> DYLAN CONNECTION:

• Eric Weissberg played guitar on "Meet Me In The Morning" and "Up To Me" ("Blood On the Tracks" sessions, Columbia Studios, Sep 23/25, 1974).

RALPH RINZLER <--> DYLAN CONNECTION:

• Dylan credits Ralph Rinzler as source for "Roll On, John"
  ("Folksinger's Choice" radio show, Cynthia Gooding, Mar 1962).

RALPH RINZLER MEMORIAL CELEBRATION

Info provided by Van Robertson (SIWP08.CFPCS.VAN@ic.si.edu), Mar 1995.

Ralph Carter Rinzler (1934 - 1994) was founding director of the Office of Folklife Programs at the Smithsonian Institution. Ralph was long-time director of the Festival of American Folklife each summer on the Mall in Washington, DC. His lifelong efforts to record and preserve American traditional music were immensely appreciated by prominent American folk performers. On April 8 and 9, 1995 many of them gathered at the Highlander Education and Research Center, in New Market, TN, 30 miles from Knoxville, for a two-day festival in his memory. Proceeds from the festival will benefit the Ralph Rinzler Memorial Endowment for Cultural Programs at Highlander.

• Ralph Rinzler Page

Mixed Up Confusion...

ERIC WEISSBERG:
We started it in 1958. We'd tour in my father's Rambler. It was funny, because the New Lost City Ramblers... were touring in an old Greenbriar, an early Chevy version of a Volkswagen van. We picked our name from the song, "The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore."

Robbie Woliver, Hoot! A 25-Year History of the Greenwich Village Music Scene, St. Martin's Press, 1986, pp. 41-42.

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