The Brothers Four’s biggest national footprint may have come in March 2003 with the veteran group’s participation in the PBS special “This Land is Your Land,” a documentary on the Folk Revival that was hosted by Tom and Dick Smothers.
If you missed the program, catch them April 19 live in Shoreline.
“It was a three-day reunion of original folk groups,” said Brothers Four original Bob Flick.
“We’d sit there in the lobby and try to pick out who was who. It’s been a long time since we had seen them. Several of the acts had been re-assembled for that production but the Kingston Trio and Judy Collins are still pretty active.”
Following the show, the Brothers Four Web site was busy with e-mails from people telling stories of what the music has meant to them.
“Those songs are in our DNA as a nation, part of what America hums and sings. That part of the ’60s folk music continues as a soundtrack to our lives,” Flick said.
The singer/songwriters of today are related to folkies because both groups tell stories.
“Folk music, starting with the Weavers, popularized songs that had been passed down in oral tradition. Pete Seeger came from that, and Woody Guthrie and Arlo (his son). It freed up people to compose and write and express in that folk style.”
In 1956, four University of Washington fraternity brothers began singing at college gigs sing-alongs: Bob Flick (acoustic bass), John Paine (guitar), Mike Kirkland (guitar &banjo) and Dick Foley (guitar).
It was still happy days for the majority of a generation.
In 1958, they were asked to audition at the Colony Club, a popular live-music site in Seattle. When they got there, they realized that it was a prank, but they were allowed to do a couple of songs anyway.
They were hired, and the rest is history, from the Columbia label to 40-plus years of music-making, propelled by their version of “Greenfields.”
The current foursome, including Mark Pearson and Terry Lauber, live in Washington state.
What keeps them going after four-plus decades?
“We’re still being asked,” he said with a laugh.
Each musician works at other projects, including advertising, soundtracks, studio work, writing and performing, and video production.
They’ll do 35-40 U.S. dates plus trips abroad. Japan has been a regular stop since 1961.
“We were literally the first people to go there and sing anything that resembled folk music, thanks to the success of early recording, especially ballads — “Greenfields,” “Yellow Bird” and others — that were very melodic and harmonious.”
The advantage of ballads, Flick said, was the pace allowed clear enunciation, a plus in a country where the level of English varied widely.
“We became very popular. For many years we were the only ones that did that tour. ‘Bro Four’ music was acoustic folk music.”
The quartet has been back every year since, except for a few breaks of about 14 months, Flick said, and they’re returning in June.
“It’s very nice to be remembered. Who doesn’t want to be remembered? We just want to keep doing it as long as we can. We don’t mind the travel and as long as the quality of the performance maintains itself,” Flick said.
“We still make people smile and tap their toes on this journey, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
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