(image courtesy of wesfiles.wesleyan.edu)
Coming straight out of the frat scene at Wesleyan University, The Highwaymen didn't make sense to the record industry. Their first album was released in 1960 and did very poorly, considered by most a failure. There was one song that didn't make it on to the original album, though, that the label decided to release in '61 as a single, "Michael." That song touched a nerve with America, and it drove The Highwaymen to incomprehensible super-stardom.
The Highwaymen first started playing together in college, and they fell in love with the old spiritual, "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore" performed by Pete Seeger at an all school assembly. When they decided to seek out a manager, and then a label, they recorded "Michael" with their own panache and confused the musical elite. (Seriously, starting a single with a recorder solo? Who does that?)
Their dizzying success was helped largely by an inexplicable ban on the song by the Irish Republic. As usual, when a song is banned, everybody wants to know why, and the single flew off the shelves. (I still haven't found out why it was banned, so anyone with insight can let me know.)
The Highwaymen did appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show and the Tonight Show, then dissolved in 1964. They are back together now, touring and, one can only assume, rowing many boats ashore.
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