New Christy Minstrels to take stage in Folsom

Way back in the day, before folk artist Bob Dylan had a No. 1 pop hit, The New Christy Minstrels folk band came close. And they're coming to Folsom.One can be sure that the current aggregate will have a tight grasp on the anthem "Green, Green," a chart buster in 1963. The sound and the rollicking feeling will be the same. The group was essentially a folk choir, amassing a sizable number of vocalists to punch through a folk message.The Minstrels re-launched three years ago with six original members in an eight-member group. The group performs at Folsom Community Center, located at 52 Natoma Street in Folsom, on Sunday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. Barry McGuire was in the Minstrels, before his solo hit "Eve of Destruction." Minstrels founder Randy Sparks and McGuire wrote "Green, Green." Other original members included future pop-country star Kenny Rogers and Mike Settle, who together left to start the First Edition, which had a hit with "Just Dropped in to See What Condition My Condition Was In" in 1967.Original Minstrels also included Gene Clark, who with McGuire's friend Jim McGuinn later would form The Byrds. McGuinn would have been a Minstrel, too, but for an offer to accompany red-hot jazz crooner Bobby Darin. Bob Buchanan, future co-composer of the Gram Parsons hit, "Hickory Wind," was in the original group. So was sultry Karen Black, who would go into acting, and star in Airport '75 and other screen hits.McGuire has since left the group."Original members who still appear with the group include Randy Sparks, Clarence Treat, Jackie Miller Davidson, Dolan Ellis and Art Podell. Special new members are Becky Jo Benson, Bill Boycott and when available, Chuck Cole," according to the Sept. 11 edition of the Morganton, N.C. News-Review.The group started as a tribute to Christy's Minstrels, often referred to as the Christy Minstrels, who were a blackface group formed by Edwin Pearce Christy, a well-known ballad singer, in 1843, in Buffalo, New York.Much major talent was only a degree or two of separation away from The New Christy Minstrels. Eventual pop star John Denver sang with Sparks in Sparks' Back Porch Majority side group. In a second side group, Sparks employed future Byrd Chris Hillman. For more information, or to order tickets, call 934-0869.The Telegraph's Roger Phelps can be reached at rogerp@goldcountrymedia.com or post a comment at edhtelegraph.com.