The Big 3

Appreciated today mostly for having a pre-Mamas & Papas Cass Elliot, the best 3 recorded several enjoyable pop-folk albums around 1963. Elliot was flanked by significant companions Tim Rose (who continued to become small but noteworthy vocalist/songwriter in the past due ’60s, most well-known for carrying out the edition of “Hey Joe” that offered a loose blueprint for Jimi Hendrix’s) and Wayne Hendricks. The Washington, D.C. trio had been typical of several of the functions operating the East Coastline coffeehouse circuit in the 1st half from the ’60s, stressing clean and complete harmonies, relatively in the mildew from the Kingston Trio. THE BEST 3 were just a little (however, not very much) funkier compared to the Kingstons, and in addition occasionally produced stabs at a far more pop-oriented sound with complete band instrumentation. The majority of their materials, though, was solidly in the acoustic stream, and their repertoire emphasized then-contemporary variations of folk requirements, although they do compose a few of their personal materials (that was generally by Rose). THE BEST 3 disbanded in 1964, when Rose remaining to go single; Elliot and Hendricks became a member of Zal Yanovsky and Denny Doherty in the short-lived folk-rock precursors the Mugwumps, which helped spawn two of the largest folk-rock organizations, the Mamas & the Papas (with Elliot and Doherty) as well as the Lovin’ Spoonful (with Yanovsky).