Biography
The Back Porch Majority ranked among the sizable folk collectives that gained traction in the initial years of the 1960s. Together with the Serendipity Singers, the ensemble was viewed as a competitor and follower of the New Christy Minstrels, yet maintained tighter ties to that act than any counterpart because both originated with Randy Sparks. In 1963 Sparks chose to step away from performances with the New Christy Minstrels, the folk ensemble he had started in 1961. His departure, paired with the elevation of Barry McGuire to the central on-stage role as the Christys’ replacement “leader,” prompted singer Dolan Ellis to leave the ten-man lineup. After a short trial with Doug Brookins, Sparks recruited Gene Clark from the Surf Riders to fill the vacancy. To offset the dissolution of the Surf Riders, Sparks and his manager Jack Daley placed the remaining members, Jimmy Glover and Mike Crumm, in a fresh ensemble that took the name Back Porch Majority.
Sparks intended the new act, conceived as a sextet or septet smaller than the Christys’ ten-person configuration, to secure live bookings and visibility while simultaneously supplying replacement personnel for the New Christy Minstrels, functioning in effect as the parent group’s developmental roster. The Back Porch Majority exceeded those expectations even though it arrived late to the “big-band” folk scene: the unit performed at the White House in 1965, secured a contract with Columbia Records’s Epic imprint, and issued five LPs, among them a live recording captured at Sparks’ club, Ledbetters. The members also performed on episodes of the network program Hullabaloo and appeared on additional variety broadcasts. One of the first members to advance to the Christys was Paul Potash, a onetime Greenwich Village folkie who had relocated to California originally as a duo partner with Art Podell, himself a Christy since 1962; Podell entered the Christys in 1964, taking Gene Clark’s former position. The Back Porch Majority kept releasing recordings until 1967, after which the group disbanded. Its most prominent alumnus besides Clark was singer-guitarist Kin Vassy, whose credits include sessions with Frank Zappa on Apostrophe, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, and Lionel Richie, plus a vocal contribution to the USA for Africa: We Are the World album.
Sparks intended the new act, conceived as a sextet or septet smaller than the Christys’ ten-person configuration, to secure live bookings and visibility while simultaneously supplying replacement personnel for the New Christy Minstrels, functioning in effect as the parent group’s developmental roster. The Back Porch Majority exceeded those expectations even though it arrived late to the “big-band” folk scene: the unit performed at the White House in 1965, secured a contract with Columbia Records’s Epic imprint, and issued five LPs, among them a live recording captured at Sparks’ club, Ledbetters. The members also performed on episodes of the network program Hullabaloo and appeared on additional variety broadcasts. One of the first members to advance to the Christys was Paul Potash, a onetime Greenwich Village folkie who had relocated to California originally as a duo partner with Art Podell, himself a Christy since 1962; Podell entered the Christys in 1964, taking Gene Clark’s former position. The Back Porch Majority kept releasing recordings until 1967, after which the group disbanded. Its most prominent alumnus besides Clark was singer-guitarist Kin Vassy, whose credits include sessions with Frank Zappa on Apostrophe, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, and Lionel Richie, plus a vocal contribution to the USA for Africa: We Are the World album.
Albums
