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The Easy Riders were a folk group comprising the established songwriting team of Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr and Frank Miller, who had had success as writers before taking advantage of the booming interest in folk on the college scene. Terry Gilkyson had written the No. 1 hit “The Cry Of The Wild Goose” for Frankie Laine and Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1950, followed more hits, and as a team they had written Dean Martin’s No. 1 “Memories Are Made Of This”, in 1955. As a folk group, they were precursors of The Kingston Trio and The Brothers Four, but were considerably older – all born during WWI – so did not have the fresh-faced college-boy appeal of those groups. They recorded prolifically during their few years together, and this 62-track collection comprises the A & B sides of singles on Columbia and Kapp from these years, plus the titles not otherwise released on singles from their albums “Marianne And Other Songs You'll Like”, “Blue Mountain” and “Wanderin': Folk Songs by The Easy Riders” on Columbia, along with “Rollin’” on Kapp, along with selected titles from their Kapp album “Remember The Alamo”. It features their 1957 No. 4 hit “Marianne” and chart entry with “Tina”, and their original version of the Brothers Four hit “Greenfields”. They were pioneers in the folk revival and as successful songwriters had a significant influence on the genre, and this is a great showcase for their distinctive style of folk.
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