In Memory and Celebration
of his life and career
|
In Memory and Celebration |
"Legends live forever," the saying goes. While I anguished for a long time in how to begin this personal tribute, it seems that those three words kept coming back. Perhaps it is the irony of the phrase that made it seem appropriate. It certainly doesn’t come close to doing justice to the life and career of one of folk music’s unheralded gifted giants.
Hamilton H. "Terry" Gilkyson, III, passed away the morning of October 15, 1999, while visiting family in Austin, TX. Mr. Gilkyon’s astonishing music career is little known to the public, however, his influence on the history of popular folk music is beyond question. His work has been recorded by Johnny Cash, the Kingston Trio, Burl Ives, Dean Martin, Doris Day, Harry Connick, Jr., Louis Armstrong, Mitch Miller, the Brothers Four, Chad Mitchell Trio, Tony Bennet, Harry Belafonte, the Sandpipers, the New Christy Minstrels, and hundreds of others.
During his career he wrote, performed, or arranged some of the biggest hits of the day. His first major success came in 1950 when his original song, "The Cry of the Wild Goose," was released by Frankie Laine and hit the top. He wrote "Fast Freight" shortly thereafter which was recorded by Richard Hayes and later became a regular part of the Kingston Trio’s repertoire near the end of the decade. After Terry joined the folk duo, The Easy Riders, Dean Martin recorded one of their songs titled "Memories are Made of This" and took it to #1 in the charts for five weeks in 1955. Gale Storm also had chart success with her version and the unfortunate ultimate nod to the success of the song came when it was covered by Spike Jones and the City Slickers. The Easy Riders first recordings in 1956 included their own hit, "Marianne," which rose to Billboard’s number five and Cashbox’s number two chart positions. Gilkyson and other members of the Easy Riders wrote and/or performed a number of other influential songs that would leave an important legacy to folk music’s pre-revival period--- "Everybody Loves Saturday Night," "South Coast," "Greenfields," "Sweet Sugar Cane," "Love is a Golden Ring," "Young in Love," "The Girl in the Wood," "Leina," and "Remember the Alamo" as well as a song titled "Tell the Captain" which is better known as "Sloop John B."
While absent from nearly every reference book on folk music, The Easy Riders’ recording career includes a span of time often called the "missing years" of folk music. The period between the Weavers’ and Woody Guthrie’s popular decline in 1950, as a result of Joe McCarthy’s Comittee on Un-American Activities, and the beginning of the folk revival period, generally marked by the emergence of the Kingston Trio in 1959. Because of the blacklisting and nervousness of the record labels during these "lost" years, the Easy Riders ended up being virtually the only folk music act with a major record contract. While there certainly were other folk artists still recording during the period, most were signed with small independent labels.
After leaving the Easy Riders for the second time in 1962, Gilkyson concentrated on providing music for animated and motion pictures for Disney. His innovative and adaptive song writing skills on "The Bare Necessities" for Disney’s animated film The Jungle Book earned him an Academy Award nomination in 1968. During the 1960s he wrote a song a week for The Wonderful World of Disney and also wrote theme music for many Disney productions including The Aristocats, Swiss Family Robinson, and Thomasina.
©Don Richardson