Description

In 1984, two generations of master folksinger-songwriters – Tom Paxton and Bob Gibson – teamed up with relative newcomer Anne Hills to perform for 18 months as Best of Friends. Although both men already had lengthy and successful solo careers in progress, “by the early ’80s, Bob and I wanted to work together more often,” Paxton explains in the CD’s liner notes, “and when our manager suggested adding a woman’s voice, we agreed, and never thought of anyone but Anne.”

The trio toured throughout the US, UK, and Canada and performed several radio concerts, but there was never any thought given to formal recording, which made the Best of Friends a missing and much sought after link in the chain of recorded folk history – until now! A live February 1985 concert taped at Holstein’s, then one of Chicago’s finest folk clubs, and broadcast on the city’s WFMT-FM station, recently resurfaced and is now presented by Appleseed as the only available recording of this three-fold supergroup. Best of Friends presents 14 songs (plus some humorous and insightful spoken introductions) from that historic 1985 broadcast produced, recorded and edited by WFMT’s Rich Warren, current host of the station’s 50-year-old, syndicated “The Midnight Special” folk program.

The senior member of the trio, Gibson was a unique folk-pop stylist credited with popularizing the 12-string guitar and inspiring many of the major country-rock stars of the ’60s and ’70s such as The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Eagles. On Best of Friends, he contributes three original compositions, including the brave, inspirational “Pilgrim Song,” which addresses the 12-step recovery program for substance abusers from a first-hand perspective. Gibson’s strengths as an instrumental and vocal arranger are much in evidence, with his trademark 12-string, banjo and voice deftly underpinning Paxton (vocals, acoustic guitar), whose songs dominate the set, and Hills (vocals, acoustic guitar), whose warm soprano provides the rich, lovely bond linking the three singers. Best of Friends also performs Anne’s song, “While You Sleep.” On this particular evening, the trio was joined by the great songwriter Michael Smith as guest bassist.

The material on Best of Friends, and the intimate mood of the performance before a winter-chilled and appreciative audience, is a model of original folk music. Paxton pays tribute to political martyrs (“The Death of Stephen Biko”) and musical heroes (“Did You Hear John Hurt?”), presents a Tom Lehrer-esque nightmare (“One Million Lawyers”), atmospheric Americana (“Panhandle Wind”), environmental and sociological concerns (“Something’s Wrong with the Rain,” “She Sits on the Table”), romantic balladry (“Home to Me”), good-time anthem “Bottle of Wine,” and his signature “Ramblin’ Boy.” Gibson opens the CD with Shel Silverstein’s plea for lost musical idealism (“Sing for the Song”); his own “Let the Band Play Dixie” calls for social unity, and its quote from Abraham Lincoln could be the motto of this CD: “We are gathered not in anger, but in celebration.”

Best of Friends is a historic document of a short-lived but classic band of friends, what Rich Warren describes in the liner notes as “a totally unselfconscious evening of music-making by three exceptionally gifted people in love with the music and the joy of sharing it.” Adds Anne Hills in her own liner notes, “Turn it up and join in. Hear your own voice in the mix. For me, that’s what folk music was all about … and still is.”

tracklist

1. Sing for the Song
2. intro
3. Did You Hear John Hurt?
4. Home to Me (Is Anywhere You Are)
5. spoken intro (political writing)
6. The Death of Stephen Biko
7. spoken intro (Bob & Tom’s collaboration)
8. And Loving You
9. While You Sleep
10. She Sits on the Table
11. Let the Band Play Dixie
12. Pilgrim Song
13. spoken intro (Texas)
14. Panhandle Wind
15. spoken intro (Reagan Ecology)
16. Something’s Wrong with the Rain
17. Ramblin’ Boy
18. spoken intro (Lawyers)
19. One Million Lawyers
20. Bottle of Wine