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POPULAR FOLK MUSIC TODAY, SPRING 1991

"Until I heard the sudden word a friend of mine was dead."

-- Jackson Browne,
"Song for Adam"

There is a place inside me that is always summer. And when I close my eyes I see that place, Ocean City, New Jersey, 1961, and hear--above the pounding surf and screams of happy children--a young man fresh from high school picking a banjo on the beach, not caring if it was getting late, or if the pretty girl beside him would be his date for the night, caring more about the chords to "Haul Away, Joe."

Thirty years later I'm driving In my car, listening to a local AM station playing "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" and afterwards the DJ says "I Just heard that Dave Guard, one of the Kingston Trio, is no longer with us. Now they are two."

He doesn't know that Dave left the group a long time ago. He doesn't know that Dave has been battling cancer. He doesn't know that millions of high school and college boys back in the early '60s wanted to be exactly like Dave Guard. He doesn't know about Ocean City, or "Haul Away, Joe," or Nick's coming out of retirement to add his intense 4-string fire to the group and the hopes we aging Trio fans had that we'd see the Original Three together again.

My seven-year-old son says, "Daddy, where are you going?" and I remember that it's not 1961, and I turn the wheel, heading for home. Later that night I get out my banjo and plunk a few notes for Dave, for the boy I was, when dreams were new.

-- Pete Curry

A MAN CALLED DAVID

Sometimes we wish and sometimes we dream Sometimes we feel life tearing at the seam, But inspiration and hope, they always were there When David and his songs would fill the air; Wherever I would go - all those songs I would bring From bonfires to campfires — altogether we'd sing; A man who lived a million miles from my home Was a story - was a song - that never left me alone. Ah, but there is so much I'd like to toll -About a man called David - I did not know well.

-- Written by Ronald B. Wise

I only knew Dave for a very short period of time personally, but It felt like a long period of time because he was always such a big influence in my life. My getting involved in folk music at all was directly because of Dave.

-- Bill Staines

Dave Guard and I realized early on in our telephone conversations that we shared a philosophy - a philosophy that became the basis for a friendship.

Dave did not care about the money, the possibility of success or failure, the inconvenience or the pain. He just cared about the music. He wanted his music to continue.

-- Bruce Innes

Never in my life has someone touched me as Dave Guard. His music and spirit lifted me higher than Scotch and Soda ever will.

-- Alan Adrian

I've been dedicating the song Outward Bound to Dave in all my recent concerts.

I'm remembering the first time I saw the Trio was, as Bob Shane told me sometime later, their first major college concert at Oklahoma University in 1958 or 1959. It was a few months after Tom Dooley had really exploded. The reason for the delay was because the Trio had been booked into all these nightclubs and they had to fulfill all those engagements before they could move on to the colleges and what not. But anyway, it was in Norman, OK, around March of '59. I went to that concert in the field house and there were 5,000 people there and it was totally packed. I came away with stars in my eyes. I already loved this music. I had seen the Weavers in concert, but this was the first time I had experienced what I would call a world class presentation of folk music.

I was just knocked out. They were so exciting and so high spirited and I was quite taken aback. I remember saying to my date as we were leaving "This is what I have to do with my life."

It wasn't until many, many years later that I finally met Dave. It was in Nashua, New Hampshire at a charity event. After that event we all sat at a big table together and I was instantly charmed to pieces with Dave's soft spoken grace and kind wit. I only saw him on one other occasion. He was with Rick & Ingrid and they came to a concert I did in southern Maine. We all went out to eat afterward. We had a marvelous time. Dave and I spoke a few times since then over the phone, but that's the sum of my acquaintance with Dave.

My hat is off to Rick and Ingrid Shaw who have shown what it means to be a true friend. They deserve all our heartfelt thanks.

-- Tom Paxton

Without a doubt, Dave Guard was the musical core of The Kingston Trio. Without his contribution there could not have been what was.

Multitudes and I, specifically, have benefited from his Earthly efforts. Like many other geniuses, Dave was an extremely intelligent being, and had great difficulty in dealing with the mediocrity that surrounded him.

I believe his release has brought him much needed healing peace. Thanks for your help and Sail On, My Friend.

-- Frank Werber