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The New Christy Minstrels is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 folk music
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
 group that came to prominence in the 1960s. The name deliberately evoked Christy's Minstrels
Christy's Minstrels

Christy's Minstrels, sometimes referred to as the Christy Minstrels, were a blackface group formed by Edwin Pearce Christy, a well-known ballad singer, in 1843, in Buffalo, New York....
, an enormously popular 19th century blackface
Blackface

'Blackface', in the narrow sense is a style of theatre makeup that originated in the United States, used to take on the appearance of certain archetypes of Racism in the United States, especially those of the "happy-go-lucky List of ethnic slurs#D on the plantation#Slavery, para-slavery and plantations" or the "dandy List of ethnic slur...
 minstrel
Minstrel show

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an United States entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety show acts, dance, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, blacks in blackface....
 group founded by Edwin Pearce Christy
Edwin Pearce Christy

Edwin Pearce Christy was an American composer, singer, actor and stage producer. He is more commonly known as E. P. Christy, and was the founder of the blackface minstrel show group Christy's Minstrels....
.

ed by Randy Sparks in 1961, the group had several Top 40 folk music
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
 hits, including "This Land Is Your Land
This Land Is Your Land

"This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk music. Its lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 on an existing melody, in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America", which Guthrie considered unrealistic and complacent....
", "Green, Green", "Today" and "Ramblin'". Current members of the group include Randy Sparks, Clarence Treat, Jackie Miller Davidson, Art Podell, Dolan Ellis
Dolan Ellis

Francis Dolan Ellis has been Arizona's Official State Balladeer since 1966, as appointed by ten consecutive governors. Governor Samuel Pearson Goddard, Jr....
, Becky Jo Benson and Bill Boycott.

The New Christy Minstrels' film score
Film score

A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film, which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film. The term Soundtrack is often confused with film score, though a soundtrack may also include songs featured in the film as well as previously released music by other artists, while the score does...
 for the 1964 comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
 movie
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
, Advance to the Rear
Advance to the Rear

Advance to the Rear is a light-hearted western film comedy film set in the American Civil War. It starred Glenn Ford, Stella Stevens and Melvyn Douglas....
, featuring Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford

Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford was a Canada-born United States actor from Classical Hollywood cinema's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades....
 and Stella Stevens
Stella Stevens

Stella Stevens is an United States actor, who began her acting career in 1959. She has also been a film producer, film director and pin-up model...
, was the first complete soundtrack ever made in the folk music style.






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Encyclopedia


The New Christy Minstrels is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 folk music
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
 group that came to prominence in the 1960s. The name deliberately evoked Christy's Minstrels
Christy's Minstrels

Christy's Minstrels, sometimes referred to as the Christy Minstrels, were a blackface group formed by Edwin Pearce Christy, a well-known ballad singer, in 1843, in Buffalo, New York....
, an enormously popular 19th century blackface
Blackface

'Blackface', in the narrow sense is a style of theatre makeup that originated in the United States, used to take on the appearance of certain archetypes of Racism in the United States, especially those of the "happy-go-lucky List of ethnic slurs#D on the plantation#Slavery, para-slavery and plantations" or the "dandy List of ethnic slur...
 minstrel
Minstrel show

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an United States entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety show acts, dance, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, blacks in blackface....
 group founded by Edwin Pearce Christy
Edwin Pearce Christy

Edwin Pearce Christy was an American composer, singer, actor and stage producer. He is more commonly known as E. P. Christy, and was the founder of the blackface minstrel show group Christy's Minstrels....
.

Career

Formed by Randy Sparks in 1961, the group had several Top 40 folk music
Folk music

Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including:* Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous with the term "Traditional music", also often including World Music and Roots music; the term "Traditional music" was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the other definition...
 hits, including "This Land Is Your Land
This Land Is Your Land

"This Land Is Your Land" is one of the United States' most famous folk music. Its lyrics were written by Woody Guthrie in 1940 on an existing melody, in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America", which Guthrie considered unrealistic and complacent....
", "Green, Green", "Today" and "Ramblin'". Current members of the group include Randy Sparks, Clarence Treat, Jackie Miller Davidson, Art Podell, Dolan Ellis
Dolan Ellis

Francis Dolan Ellis has been Arizona's Official State Balladeer since 1966, as appointed by ten consecutive governors. Governor Samuel Pearson Goddard, Jr....
, Becky Jo Benson and Bill Boycott.

The New Christy Minstrels' film score
Film score

A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film, which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film. The term Soundtrack is often confused with film score, though a soundtrack may also include songs featured in the film as well as previously released music by other artists, while the score does...
 for the 1964 comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
 movie
Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
, Advance to the Rear
Advance to the Rear

Advance to the Rear is a light-hearted western film comedy film set in the American Civil War. It starred Glenn Ford, Stella Stevens and Melvyn Douglas....
, featuring Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford

Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford was a Canada-born United States actor from Classical Hollywood cinema's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades....
 and Stella Stevens
Stella Stevens

Stella Stevens is an United States actor, who began her acting career in 1959. She has also been a film producer, film director and pin-up model...
, was the first complete soundtrack ever made in the folk music style. The score is notable for the hit standard "Today" and several others, including "This Old Riverboat" and "Company of Cowards" (the original title). The soundtrack album has been re-released on CD
Compact Disc

A Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store Data , originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the market since October 1982, remains the standard physical medium for sale of commercial Sound recording and reproduction to the present day....
 as Today.

Past members

Some of the group's most famous alumni include:
  • Kenny Rogers
    Kenny Rogers

    Kenneth Ray "Kenny" Rogers is an United States country music singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor and entrepreneur.He has been very successful, charting more than 70 hit singles across various music genres and topping the country and pop album charts for more than 420 individual weeks in the United States alone....
  • The Byrds
    The Byrds

    The Byrds were an American Rock music band. Formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964, The Byrds underwent several lineup changes, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group's disbandment in 1973....
    ' Gene Clark
    Gene Clark

    Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an United States singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
     (d. 1991)
  • Kim Carnes
    Kim Carnes

    Kim Carnes is a Grammy Award-winning United States singer-songwriter. She is noted for her distinctive, raspy voice which she attributes to many hours spent singing in smoky bars and nightclub....
  • The Association
    The Association

    The Association is a pop music band from California in the sunshine pop genre. They are best known for their popularity in the 1960s, when they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts....
    's Larry Ramos
  • Baxter Taylor
    Baxter Taylor

    A brief biography/interview with Baxter Taylor dated October 12, 2007: Born: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and raised in Dallas, Texas....
     (ex-The Wayfarers Trio)
  • Barry McGuire
    Barry McGuire

    Barry McGuire is an United States singer-songwriter....
     of Eve Of Destruction fame
  • Peggy Conolly
  • Karen Dugan
  • Gayle Caldwell
  • Larry Gallagher
  • Karen Gundersen
  • Ann White
  • Nick Woods (d. 1971)
  • Barry Kane
  • Karen Black
    Karen Black

    Karen Black is an United States actor, screenwriter, singer and songwriter. She is noted for films such as Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby and Nashville in a career that has spanned five decades....
  • Keith Barbour
    Keith Barbour

    Keith Barbour was an American singer-songwriter. He was a member of the New Christy Minstrels before signing to Epic Records as a solo artist in 1969....
  • Terry Anne Meeuwsen
    Terry Anne Meeuwsen

    Terry Anne Meeuwsen is an United States television personality and singer. She is also known for winning the Miss America pageant in 1973.After her reign as Miss America, college work, and a stint with the New Christy Minstrels singing group, Meeuwsen went into television work at WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1978....
    , former Miss America
  • Thelma Camacho
  • Mike Settle
    Mike Settle

    Mike Settle, is a songwriter, journalist, Presenter and singer. He is most famous for being a member of Country-Rock band Kenny Rogers & The First Edition between 1967 and 1970....
  • Terry Williams
    Terry Williams

    Terry Williams is an United States singer-songwriter. He is the son of Tommy Dorsey band 's girl singer, Bonnie Lou Williams, and the band's trombonist....


The latter three were original founders of The First Edition
The First Edition

The First Edition was a country music/rock band stalwart members being Kenny Rogers , Mickey Jones Terry Williams . The band formed in 1967, with noted folk musician Mike Settle and the operatically trained Thelma Camacho completing the lineup....
, along with Kenny Rogers. In the early 1970s, the group's roster included future Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 stars
Celebrity

A celebrity is a widely-recognized or notable person who commands a high degree of public and media attention. The word stems from the Latin verb "celebrare" but one may not become a celebrity unless public and mass media interest is piqued....
 Christine Andreas
Christine Andreas

Christine Andreas is an United States actress and singer.Born in Camden, New Jersey, Andreas made her Broadway theatre debut in a 1975 revival of Angel Street....
 and Linda Hart
Linda Hart

Linda Hart is an United States singer, musician, and actress, mainly appearing in musical theatres. She is best known for originating the role of Velma Von Tussle in the Broadway theatre adaptation of Hairspray ....
.

Partial discography

  • Presenting The New Christy Minstrels
  • The New Christy Minstrels In Person
  • The New Christy Minstrels Tell Tall Tales! (Legends and Nonsense)
  • Ramblin
  • Merry Christmas
  • Land of Giants
  • Today and Other Songs from 'Advance to the Rear
  • Live from Ledbetter's
  • Quiet Sides of the New Christy Minstrels
  • The New Christy Minstrels Sing and Play Cowboys and Indians
  • Amore Ritorna... (released only in Italy
    Italy

    Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
    )
  • Chim Chim Cher-ee and Other Happy Songs
  • The Wandering Minstrels
  • My Own Little World (released only in Japan
    Japan

    Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
    )
  • The New Christy Minstrels' Greatest Hits
  • In Italy...In Italian
  • New Kick!
  • Christmas with the Christies
  • On Tour Through Motortown
  • Big Hits from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (with Arthur Treacher
    Arthur Treacher

    Arthur Veary Treacher was an England actor born in Brighton, East Sussex, England. He was a veteran of World War I.After the war he established a stage career and in 1928 he went to America as part of a musical-comedy revue called Great Temptations....
    )
  • The New Christy Minstrels a San Remo (released only in Italy)
  • The New Christy Minstrels (released only in Japan)
  • You Need Someone to Love
  • Keep Japan Beautiful (released only in Japan)
  • The Great Soap Opera Themes
  • Merry Christmas, Volume II


In popular culture

The New Christy Minstrels was lovingly lampooned in the movie A Mighty Wind
A Mighty Wind

A Mighty Wind is a 2003 mockumentary about a folk music reunion concert and the three groups that must come together to perform on national television for the first time in years....
 in the form of the New Main Street Singers.

Footnotes


External links