The Folkswingers

An unusual studio project, the Folkswingers did an album on the World Pacific label in 1963, 12 String Guitar!, on which a pre-stardom Glen Campbell's 12-string guitar playing was backed by three members of the Dillards (Rodney Dillard on guitar, Doug Dillard on banjo, and Dean Webb on bass). Though the song selection is a little obvious and commercial-minded — including "If I Had a Hammer," "Walk Right In," "Midnight Special," "Cottonfields," "Wabash Cannonball," "Blowing in the Wind," and "This Train" — the album swings along pleasantly, with more of a rhythm than many folk LPs of the period. The record also played an indirect unintentional role in the birth of folk-rock, as it was produced by Jim Dickson, who went on to co-manage the Byrds. In appreciation of his work on the album, Dick Bock of World Pacific gave Dickson free studio time, which Dickson used to rehearse and record studio material by the Byrds as they were learning to play electric folk-rock. That studio time was invaluable to making the Byrds a tighter unit by the time they started making official recordings.