Nick Reynolds, R.I.P.

Nick Reynolds, guitarist for the Kingston Trio, died in Chula Vista, Calif., on Monday. The Kingston Trio dominated the album charts for a time in the early ’60s–at one point, the group held four slots in the album charts’ top 10–and essentially opened the door for folk music as a commercially viable enterprise with their easygoing versions of traditional songs. The Kingston Trio made a conscious decision to avoid protest songs, which probably gave them a much more successful mainstream career, as the act with Reynolds reunited several times since their heyday for tours and a fantasy camp in Scottsdale, Ariz. As a kid, one of the five mixtapes my father would listen to over and over included the Trio’s take on “Tom Dooley,” with the act’s sweet harmonies telling the story of a murderous husband on his way to execution. While I haven’t spent much time with the band’s music since, I feel like the song prepared me for my appreciation of murder ballads today, and it’s hard to not respect an act with a popular song about spending time in a Tijuana jail. Reynolds was 75. [San Diego Union-Tribune]