The Highwaymen

AMG Review of The Highwaymen

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

The debut album by this Wesleyan University-spawned quartet is an enjoyable and well-sung body of music that comes off as something more than Kingston Trio-lite. "Santiano" and "Big Rock Candy Mountain" are rousing singalongs that also offer hints of the gentler side that this group could evoke, which distinguished the Highwaymen from most of their rivals. That side of their sound is brought forth in full, gentle force on "Ala Claire Fontaine," "Au Claire de la Lune," "Cindy Oh Cindy" -- the latter so gorgeous a performance that it should have sold the album by itself -- and, surprisingly, "Greenland Fisheries" and "Sinner Man," which are normally sung with full-out boisterousness. They also display a wider instrumental range than most of their rivals, integrating the flute into their music in a manner reminiscent of the Weavers. The hit "Michael" is almost incidental to the other excellent cuts here, and anyone who has enjoyed that hit will be very pleasantly delighted by the rest of this album.