All that being said, I have to say that I never really loved Mr. Yarbrough's singing or personna. He had a good folkie pedigree - parents worked at Hull House, Jac Holzman was his college roomate, he fell in love with folk music after attending a Woody Guthrie concert. I'll grant that some of the recordings he made with the Limeliters were very, very good. But Yarbrough seemed more at home with the smarmy, navel-contemplating singer-songwriter stuff, than he was with real folk music. Yarbrough left the Limeliters in 1963, and began a collaboration with Rod McKuen. What can I say?

I saw Glenn Yarbrough perform only once or twice, in the 1990s when he was singing neo-psychological stuff that had very little connection to folk music. And his stage talk made him sound aging and disillusioned, which I suppose he was.

He had moments of brilliance, but much of the time he was stuck in pretentiously self-contemplating music that was very commercial. I think he had a lot of potential, most of it unrealized.
But may he rest in peace and maybe realize his potential in another realm.

-Joe-


P.S. I didn't like Lou Gottleib, either. I found him to be kinda creepy. I did like Alex Hassilev, though - and I like most of the Limeliters recordings.

P.P.S. Don't waste your time telling me how awful it is for me to speak ill of the dead. Tell us what you thought of Yarbrough and his performances.