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Dave Guard

Dave Guard was an important figure in the late ’50s and early ’60s folk boom, principally as a member of the Kingston Trio, and for a brief time as the central attraction in Dave Guard’s Whiskeyhill Singers.

Guard, with Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane, was an original member of the Kingston Trio and did his share of songwriting in that group, co-writing their 1959 hit “A Worried Man.” In 1961, however, Guard left the still-thriving act (to be replaced by John Stewart), upset about some problems with the handling of their finances and wanting to pursue different musical directions.

This he did with Dave Guard & the Whiskeyhill Singers, who made but one album for Capitol in 1962, also including future noted folk and rock singer Judy Henske, Cyrus Faryar (later of the Modern Folk Quartet and then a solo singer-songwriter), and David Wheat (who had worked with the Kingston Trio as an accompanist on bass).

They toured with the release of the 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". Guard performed solo on the tracks "Wanderin'" and "Poor Wayfarin' Stranger".

Dave Guard & the Whiskeyhill Singers made a second, unreleased album before breaking up in 1963. Guard kept a low profile musically, although he recorded on Tim Buckley’s 1967 album Goodbye and Hello, playing kalimba and tambourine; that album was produced by Jerry Yester, then the husband of Guard’s ex-bandmate Judy Henske.

In 1964, Guard moved with his family to Sydney, Australia, became the folk music consultant on the ABC-TV program "Jazz Meets Folk" and he hosted his own ABC-TV national TV variety show called "Dave's Place" on Sunday nights for 13 weeks in late 1965.

Guard worked closely in Honolulu with slack key guitar icon Gabby Pahinui to record and produce Pure Gabby, an album of classic Hawaiian melodies played with slack key tunings. He died of lymphatic cancer in 1991.

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