The Big 3 (folk group)

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The Big 3
OriginWashington, DC, United States
Genresfolk
Years active1962–1964
LabelsFM
Past membersCass Elliot
Tim Rose
Jim Hendricks

The Big 3 was an American folk trio consisting of singer Cass Elliot (1941–1974), singer-songwriter-banjo player Tim Rose (1940–2002), and singer-guitarist Jim Hendricks (b. 1940).

Career[edit]

In 1962, Tim Rose and John Brown met Cass Elliot in Georgetown, DC:[1] "After trying a few songs together, they went on the road as The Triumvirate. In Omaha, Nebraska, they recruited James Hendricks before heading for New York City as The Big Three."[2] Brown appears to have been left behind. In New York, the reconfigured trio played coffee houses and folk clubs – including The Bitter End – with sufficient effect to secure spots on national television programs such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), Hootenanny (1963), and The Danny Kaye Show (1963).[3] They made twenty-six television appearances in all.[4] Meanwhile, Elliot had married Hendricks to help him avoid the draft; it is said that the union was never consummated.[5][6] The trio released two albums and two singles before personal and musical differences led to its demise. Rose went solo, while Elliot and Hendricks co-founded The Mugwumps. Later, Elliot went on the join the influential pop group, The Mamas and the Papas before embarking on a moderately successful solo career.

Discography[edit]

Albums[edit]

The Big 3 (FM Records, 1963)[7]
  1. Rider – 2:30
  2. (It Makes) A Long Time Man Feel Bad – 3:28
  3. Nora's Dove (Dink's Song) – 1:56
  4. Young Girls Lament – 4:13
  5. Sing Hallelujah – 2:06
  6. Come Along – 1:52
  7. Dark As a Dungeon – 3:10
  8. The Banjo Song – 1:55
  9. Winken, Blinken and Nod – 3:27
  10. Ho Honey Oh – 1:29
Live at the Recording Studio (FM Records, 1964)[8]
  1. I May Be Right – 2:24
  2. Anna Fia (Feher) – 2:44
  3. Tony and Delia – 2:30
  4. Grandfather's Clock – 1:50
  5. Silkie – 3:20
  6. Ringo – 2:13
  7. Down in the Valley – 2:08
  8. Wild Women – 3:01
  9. All The Pretty Little Horses – 2:40
  10. Glory, Glory – 2:14
  11. Come Away Melinda – 3:10

Compilations[edit]

In 1995, Sequel reissued both albums on one CD called The Big 3 Featuring Mama Cass.[9] There are two other compilations with the same name. The first, with eleven tracks, was released by Roulette in 1967 and reissued in 1979; the second, with eighteen tracks, was released by Collectables in 2000.

Essential Folk Masters (Classic Music International, 2011), which is credited to "Mama Cass & The Big Tree" (sic) on the cover, contains the same eighteen tracks as the Collectables compilation in a different order. This is doubly confusing given that after Rose left, Cass, Hendricks and their new bandmates briefly called themselves Mama Cass and the Big 3 before settling on The Mugwumps.

Singles[edit]

  • 1963: "The Banjo Song" ("Oh! Susanna") / "Winken, Blinken and Nod" (FM Records)
  • 1963: "Come Away Melinda" / "Rider" (FM Records)

Roulette released "Nora's Dove (Dink's Song)" / "Grandfather's Clock" as a single in 1968 to promote its compilation The Big 3 Featuring Mama Cass.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Biography", The Official Cass Elliot Website. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  2. ^ "Biography" Archived 2012-09-04 at the Wayback Machine, The Official Tim Rose Website. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  3. ^ "Biography", The Official Cass Elliot Website. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Biography" Archived 2012-09-04 at the Wayback Machine, The Official Tim Rose Website. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  5. ^ "On July 29, 1974: Cass Elliot dies at the age of 32", Hotshotsdigital Legends of Rock. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  6. ^ "Archive for the Mamas and Papas", Laurel Canyon. Retrieved 23 April 2013
  7. ^ The Big 3: The Big 3, Discogs. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  8. ^ The Big 3: Live at the Recording Studio, Discogs. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  9. ^ "Music" Archived 2009-04-05 at the Wayback Machine, The Official Tim Rose Website. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  10. ^ The Big 3 Featuring Mama Cass: Nora's Dove (Dink's Song), Discogs. Retrieved 23 April 2013.