Charles River Valley Boys
Image No. 65-11-30 On the Banks of the Charles (Left to right: Joe Val, John Cooke, Everett Alan Lilly, Bob Siggins.) The Charles River Valley Boys got together at Harvard College to play old-timey music. When banjoist Bob Siggins learned Scruggs-style picking, the band added bluegrass to its repertoire. John Cooke joined the CRVB when the original guitar player indefinitely extended a European sojourn. After the group disbanded in 1968, Joe Val, the great mandolinist and high-lonesome singer, founded his own group, the New England Bluegrass Boys. Joe and his Boys appeared several times on "Prairie Home Companion" in its early years.
Image No. 65-11-22: Sitting on the Fence Cambridge, Mass., July 1965 (Left to right: John Cooke, Everett Alan Lilly, Joe Val, Bob Siggins.)
Image No. 65-11-28 Picking by the River Cambridge, Mass., July 1965 (Left to right: John Cooke, Everett Alan Lilly, Joe Val, Bob Siggins.)
Image No. 65-11-32 Goofing Around (Left to right: John Cooke, Joe Val, Everett Alan Lilly, Bob Siggins)
Image No. 68-4N-14 Joan Baez and Charles River Valley Boys 1968 Newport Folk Festival (Left to right: Joe Val, Joan Baez, Bob Siggins, Clay Jackson.)
Image No. 65-12-20 Bob Siggins, Tex Logan and Joe Val Tex Logan's home, New Jersey, July 4, 1965 The Charles River Valley Boys' second album for Prestige Records, "Bluegrass Get Together," featured the powerhouse fiddling of Tex Logan. The year after we made the album, Tex invited us to his New Jersey home for some Texas hospitality on the Fourth of July. Picking, it goes without saying, ensued. Here, Tex indicates the location of the note he's looking for. ("Bluegrass Get Together" and the CRVB's first album for Prestige, "Bluegrass and Old Timey Music" are both included in full on the 2003 Prestige/Folklore CD "The Charles River Valley Boys," PRCD-24280-2.)
Image No. 65-12-23: Getting On Down Tex Logan's home, New Jersey, July 4, 1965 Tex leans into his fiddle, accompanied by Joe Val on guitar and Bob Siggins on banjo.