Artists
Album Info
Release Date: 1966Label: Envoy
DICK WINTHER A former semi-pro baseball player with a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota, Dick has been singing since he was 14. As a member of the “Statesmen”, a jazz vocal group, he sang for 3 years at the Starlight Club, and 2 years at Osterberg’s, both Minneapolis supper clubs. Now a freelance commercial artist, Dick’s background also includes a year spent hitch-hiking and singing through 35 states, and a session as a beach artist in Nassau. In addition to his current art activities, he also teaches the 5-string banjo at a Minneapolis music school.JERRY LONGIE A former Golden Gloves boxer, Jerry won the Welterweight championship of Canada in 1956. He’s been singing since he was 12, and when offered the chance to become a professional boxer, he chose instead to continue singing. Of French-Canadian-Cree background, Jerry is the master wit of the group.
ED KNUTSON Here is the “old pro” of the group. Ed started singing when he was just a year old, and had a repertoire of 100 songs. His first professional engagement came when he was an old man of two. A 3-letter athlete in high school, Ed spent 3 years in the Marine Corps. He majored in music at the University of Minnesota. Ed does most of the arranging for the CFG
JERRY GOODGE Jerry is the guitarist with the CFG, and a fine entertainer in his own right. His solo sets with the group of both flamenco and folk music are always a crowd-stopper. His own repertoire of over 250 songs, plus an unmatched technical excellence on the guitar make him the perfect “fourth” for the CFG. Jerry is a commercial artist in addition to his musical career with the CFG.
A former amateur Welterweight champion of Canada . . . a commercial artist . . . a semi-pro baseball player . . . and a music student . .. all combine to bring a new swinging sound to popular folk music.
Their combined experience represents many years singing as members of other groups, mainly in the jazz idiom. This love and feel for jazz has been transplanted to the field of folk music and traditional folk songs take on a new lustre in the hands of the Contemporary Folk Group.
Recent concerts of the University of Minnesota were smash successes. Fourteen weeks of SRO at
Minneapolis’ Le Zoo, and an extended engagement at Minneapolis’ great bastion of folk music, The
Padded Cell . . . all an indication of the tremendous audience reaction to the Contemporary Folk
Group.
Their fine feel for both music and comedy bids fair to make them one of the nation’s outstanding vocal groups. Engagements at other nationally known clubs, such as Pasadena’s “Ice House” and the “Troubador” in Hollywood do nothing to lessen the certainty of their success.