Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP

Subject: LYR ADD: Giving Everything Away
From: GUEST,RoberM
Date: 06 Mar 11 - 12:19 PM

This was one of few recordings that Dian James recorded, most music on the LP was in the bluegrass style,
but what changed things entirely was her amazingly powerful voice, one of the best I've heard
in any popular music genre.
The best song on the album (In My Opinion) was
Dian's and the Greenbriar Boys version
of the song "New Givin' Everything Away,
(just called "Giving Everything Away" on the LP)
written by Clayton McMichen of the Skillet Lickers
and performed by Riley Puckett. I'm not sure I have all the lyrics correct here, but here they are anyway:

------------------------------
(New) Givin' Everything Away

Recording Source: Dián James and the Greenbriar Boys (LP & CD Elektra Records)
and Riley Puckett (JSP Box - Country Music Pioneer)


I know a gal, she lived on a farm,
she's got corn in the crib and hay in the barn.
She had an old cow she milked every day,
she wouldn't sell the milk and butter,
she just gave it away - She had a habit:
Giving everything away.


She had chickens in the coop, pigs in the pen,
flower in the bowl and wheat in the bin.
This old gal she lived away down south,
she had plenty of meat and had a smokehouse.
She wouldn't sell it, she just like to give it away.


She got tired of the country, wouldn't farm no more.
She moved to town, got job in a store.
She was doin' fine till one day when:
Lord, they caught her givin' goods away to the men,
she had a habit: givin' everything away.


Now, she lost her job; she didn't care -
she went to a honky-tonk and drank some beer.
She drank some corn-liqour and some homebrew(ed) too;
Lordy Goodness know what it made her do -
She had a habit: Giving everything way.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Mar 11 - 01:03 PM

I have that LP....haven't played it in a number of years. Maybe I'll go dig it out...thanks for the reminder.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 06 Mar 11 - 01:24 PM

I've got that one too, Bill. Just transferred it to CD in fact.
Every track is a winner: Tramp On The Street, Green Corn, Precious Lord Take My Hand, Brown's Ferry Blues et al. Great LP.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: GUEST,Aphieme
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 06:38 PM

How can I get a copy of this recording?

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: pdq
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 07:28 PM

Check eBay or Amazon for "Dian & the Greenbriar Boys" on Collectors' Choice.

The CD came out in 2006 and should sell for $5-10 range. Ignore the stupid prices that some ask. They are "fishing".

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 09 Mar 13 - 07:16 PM

In the meantime, visit youtube for several tracks by Dian & the Greenbrier Boys. Here is a link to one track.

He Was a Friend of Mine

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: PHJim
Date: 10 Mar 13 - 12:29 AM

Sorry for the thread drift, but what kind of guitar is John Herald playing on the cover of that album? It seems to have a floating bridge in front of the pin bridge (or pin stop tailpiece). The head stock is shaped something like an Ovation.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: RangerSteve
Date: 10 Mar 13 - 09:02 PM

I love that album. What ever happened to Dian James? I never heard of her before or after that recording. Does anyone have any info on her? Where she's from, her musical career, etc.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: pdq
Date: 10 Mar 13 - 09:15 PM

Dian James was not her real name.

She died a few years back. There is a Mudcat thread about her.

She was about 4'10", a good little Jewish girl from New York.

Dian James did Broadway, was in the Pajama Game (movie), and recorded a few Soul records also.

She was Randy Newman's cousin, hense came from a very accomplished musical family (think Alfred Newman, Lionel Newman, etc.).

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: PHJim
Date: 10 Mar 13 - 09:51 PM

Is that Alfred R. Newman?

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: pdq
Date: 10 Mar 13 - 10:03 PM

"Alfred Newman (March 17, 1901 – February 17, 1970) was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of music for films, and was also the head of a family of major Hollywood film composers, among them his brothers Emil Newman and Lionel Newman, his sons David Newman and Thomas Newman, and his nephew Randy Newman.

In a career which spanned over forty years, Newman composed music for over 200 films. He was one of the most respected film score composers of his time, and is today regarded as one of the greatest musicians ever to work in film. Along with composers Max Steiner and Dimitri Tiomkin, Newman is considered one of the "three godfathers of film music," and played a major part in creating the tradition of composing original music for films."


Yes, quite a family.

I have not been able to establish her real last name. It may have been Newman, it probably wasn't.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: GUEST,Gibsonboy
Date: 11 Mar 13 - 07:34 AM

I only have one track by Dian and the Greenbrair Boys, its Green Corn and its on a four album collection of folk music called "The Folk Box". That track then lead me to the their album "Ragged But Right". This for me was, and still is, one of the best old time/bluegrass albums of all time. I still play it regularly after almost 45 years, and never tire of it. The saddest thing is that John Herald never got the recognition he deserved before ending his own life. Sleep well John, sleep well.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: Midchuck
Date: 11 Mar 13 - 08:07 AM

...John Herald never got the recognition he deserved before ending his own life...

Well, he got it from me...he had me turned on to playing guitar with a flatpick before I ever heard Doc Watson. More by his work with Ian and Sylvia than by the Greenbriar Boys, but still...

I do have two copies of the DJ&tGB album, though. Vinyl purchased coming up on 50 years ago, and CD purchased from one of the mail-order remainder places a year or so ago.

P.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: GUEST,Gibsonboy
Date: 11 Mar 13 - 12:44 PM

Nice to hear others appreciated him as well, but after reading up on his life story I think he felt he deserved more credit than he actually got. I have tried to research the banjo player Bob Yellin but nothing seems to be coming up, how did his story unfold post GB Boys

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: Midchuck
Date: 11 Mar 13 - 01:03 PM

Last I knew, he (Yellin) owned a music store in Burlington, VT, and was active in local BG music. I don't know whether he's still alive and active.

Quite a few years ago, they had a GB Boys "Reunion Concert" at the Lake Champlain Festival. Yellin, Herald, and Jody Stecher taking the place of the deceased Rinzler (as I guess he did, in fact, for a short time 'way back). They still had most of it together.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: pdq
Date: 11 Mar 13 - 01:40 PM

After the last Greenbriar Boys record (1966), Bob Yellin moved with his wife to Israel.

They lived in a kibutz and had several children who were raised as Israeli citizens.

I believe they returned to the US when the childern were college age (late '80s ?).

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: PHJim
Date: 12 Mar 13 - 02:54 AM

I first saw The Greenbriar Boys at The Happy Medium Coffee House in Hamilton Ontario. That group consisted of John Herald, Ralph Rinzler and Bob Yellin with Brian Barron of the Yorl County Boys guesting on fiddle. That was in the very early sixties.
In 1964 I attended the Mariposa Folk Festival at Maple Leaf Stadium where the Greenbriar Boys appeared again. This incarnation had John Herald on guitar and lead vocals, Winnie Winston on banjo, Frank Wakefield on mandolin, I believe Jim Buchannan played fiddle and the original mandolin player for the group, Eric Weisburg played bass.
The last time I saw John Herald was when John Herald & The Honkies played on Ian Tyson's Nashville North show.
I have most of the Greenbriar Boys albums, including the one with Joan Baez, but have never found the one with Dian James.
Like Midchuck, I was first influenced as a flat picker by John Herald's picking, though I can't recall if I heard it first on Ian & Sylvia's recordings or The Greenbriar Boys.

Subject: RE: Dian James & the Greenbriar Boys LP
From: GUEST,H
Date: 16 Mar 15 - 08:40 PM

@ pdq , was her last name maybe Mercer (later Howard) ? ,
I also found a first name: Marilyn.

http://variety.com/2006/scene/people-news/marilyn-howard-1200335244/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039169/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

(these are by no means any sources, I just looked up the film 'The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, where she had a small role, and the dates 1928-2006)