The Charles River Valley Boys were an American bluegrass group who toured and recorded in the 1960s and were best known for their 1966 album, Beatle Country , presenting bluegrass versions of songs by the Beatles .
108-595: The group was formed by students in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1959. They took their name as a jokey reference to the Laurel River Valley Boys , a traditional bluegrass group from North Carolina who recorded several albums in that style in the 1950s, and to the Charles River , which flows through Cambridge and Boston , Massachusetts . Although the group's membership changed frequently,
216-464: A 2009 listed American Water Landmark located roughly one mile west of Fresh Pond and surrounded by the town of Belmont. The second area is the larger Hobbs Brook and Stony Brook watersheds, which share borders with neighboring towns and cities including Lexington, Lincoln , Waltham and Weston . Cambridge has been called the "City of Squares", as most of its commercial districts are major street intersections known as squares . Each square acts as
324-475: A Fitchburg Line commuter rail stop. Lesley University's University Hall and Porter campus are in Porter Square. Inman Square is at the junction of Cambridge and Hampshire streets in mid-Cambridge. It is home to restaurants, bars, music venues, and boutiques. Victorian streetlights, benches, and bus stops were added to the streets in the 2000s, and a new city park was installed. Lechmere Square
432-404: A Face", later characterized by Field as the foundation piece of the entire album. Where the original includes only one instrumental break for a guitar solo, the cover adds extra breaks for banjo, mandolin and fiddle – a typical feature of bluegrass music, where each musician is allowed the chance to solo. Additionally, the original includes only one chorus, not including its final iteration, while
540-457: A Face", " Ticket to Ride " and "Yellow Submarine". Billboard magazine called the album "[a] novel idea" and suggested the covers of " Baby's in Black " and "Norwegian Wood" had the potential to gain airplay on both pop and country radio stations. In a review for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, Neil V. Rosenberg described Val's mandolin playing as the album's "outstanding feature". Applauding
648-635: A bit... He had fun with it too. Other than that, we got only approval, basically, as near as I could tell. Especially on the west coast, when we came out to play some of it on tour." The album, Beatle Country , was released by Elektra Records in 1966. It was marketed with a cover of cowboys in London, and promotional materials pushing the album toward a mainstream country market. Although it achieved some success, Rothchild then began working in California with rock bands, most notably The Doors , and
756-586: A female householder with no husband present, and 60.4% were non-families. 40.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.76. Beatle Country Beatle Country is the fourth and final studio album by the American bluegrass band Charles River Valley Boys , released in November 1966 by Elektra Records . Where
864-417: A highly respected traditional bluegrass act. After Paul Rothchild began working as a staff producer for Elektra Records , the group sent him a demo tape which included bluegrass versions of two Beatles ' songs, " I've Just Seen a Face " and " What Goes On ". Rothchild was impressed, and suggested the band record an entire album of Beatles' songs. Label boss Jac Holzman flew to London to get clearance for
972-602: A lab in 1982, in contrast to the hostility that caused the Genetic Institute, a Harvard spinoff, to abandon Somerville and Boston for Cambridge. The biotech and pharmaceutical industries have since thrived in Cambridge, which now includes headquarters for Biogen and Genzyme ; laboratories for Novartis , Teva , Takeda , Alnylam , Ironwood , Catabasis, Moderna Therapeutics , Editas Medicine ; support companies such as Cytel ; and many smaller companies. During
1080-504: A large co-working space, is in Kendall Square at 1 Broadway. The Cambridge Center office complex is in Kendall Square, and not at the actual center of Cambridge. The "One Kendall Square" complex is nearby, but not actually in Kendall Square. Central Square is formed by the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Prospect Street, and Western Avenue. Containing a variety of ethnic restaurants, it was economically depressed as recently as
1188-415: A little bit". Turner mentions several bluegrass motifs being worked in across the album, such as: "the rhythmic impetus and timbre of the 'rolling' banjo motifs, persistently driving upright bass, occasional utilization of vocal techniques like Val's 'high lonesome' tenor , and an abundance of solo instrumental breaks". The structural changes are incorporated on the album's opening track, "I've Just Seen
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#17327825764901296-459: A lot of country twang in songs like " I've Just Seen a Face " and " What Goes On ". A lot of the folkies were into the Beatles big time, on the sly if nothing else, including us. We just thought a lot of [their songs] would adapt themselves to a country sound. As we got into learning the songs, we discovered that the singing they did lent itself well to bluegrass harmonies, and we discovered we liked
1404-646: A major transfer point to streetcars that also operated in a short tunnel —which is still a major bus terminal, although the area under the Square was reconfigured dramatically in the 1980s when the Red Line was extended. A short distance away from the square lies the Cambridge Common, while the neighborhood north of Harvard and east of Massachusetts Avenue is known as Baldwin, in honor of the first Black principal of Cambridge public schools, Maria L. Baldwin. It
1512-478: A neighborhood center. Kendall Square , formed by the junction of Broadway, Main Street, and Third Street, has been called "the most innovative square mile on the planet", owing to its high concentration of entrepreneurial start-ups and quality of innovation which have emerged in the vicinity of the square since 2010. Technology Square is an office and laboratory building cluster in this neighborhood. Just over
1620-442: A sense, why we hired some of the guys we hired for the record. 'Cause we were more into vocalists, vocalizing. That was the fun part for us, I think... The only flak we got was from Joe Val initially. He was kind of edgy about it. I think he was worried about what some of his friends might say, some of his hardcore bluegrass fans. Our approach was to do it as hardcore bluegrass as we could. And I think that kind of settled his mind on it
1728-467: A short burst of sales. Elektra included the cover of "She's a Woman" on the 2007 compilation album Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra 1963–1973 . Cash Box described the album as "[a] delightful Bluegrass romp" and predicted it would be a success among Beatles fans, while also having good chances in the country and western market. The review named five tracks as the album's highlights, including: "What Goes On", "Norwegian Wood", "I've Just Seen
1836-615: A similar cover album. Siegel recalled the recording process as efficient and professional, with the group recording fourteen covers in the four days. Rothchild and Siegel mixed the album in Elektra's New York studio, correcting small mistakes not noticed in Nashville and selecting twelve songs for inclusion. Hearing those songs (" Norwegian Wood " and " I Saw Her Standing There ") sung in the style and timbre of Bill Monroe ... sent chills down my spine. Hearing that voice come through
1944-414: A traditional bluegrass band: "The Beatles thing was just one part of what we did. It wasn't as if we became a Beatle band. That would have ended invitations to clubs and festivals at the time ... we wouldn’t have fit anywhere". Siggins commented that the group continued to arrange other Beatles songs after their work on the album, including complicated ones further from bluegrass than those included on
2052-449: A valued collector's item. The album's cover artwork, created by Eros Keith under the supervision of William S. Harvey and without the band's involvement, features a group of cowboys gazing at the theater district of Swinging London . With its bending of bluegrass conventions, retrospective commentators have seen the LP as anticipating the progressive bluegrass movement of the 1970s. The album
2160-459: A women's liberal arts college, was based in Cambridge from its 1879 founding until its assimilation into Harvard in 1999. Kendall Square , near MIT in the eastern part of Cambridge, has been called "the most innovative square mile on the planet" due to the high concentration of startup companies that have emerged there since 2010. Founded in December 1630 during the colonial era , Cambridge
2268-500: Is a good adaption, "Ticket to Ride" and "Help!" "seem ungainly in their new context". In a retrospective assessment for the MusicHound Folk album guide, Stephen L. Betts scored the album a four out of five. He compares the cover of "Yellow Submarine" to the sound of American country music duo Homer and Jethro . He comments that the songs chosen work well for bluegrass, and that the album "perhaps ... works because it
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#17327825764902376-692: Is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston . The city's population as of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the most populous city in the county, the fourth-largest in Massachusetts behind Boston , Worcester , and Springfield , and ninth-most populous in New England . The city was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge , England, which
2484-610: Is at the junction of Cambridge and First streets, adjacent to the CambridgeSide Galleria shopping mall. It is served by Lechmere station on the MBTA Green Line . The City of Cambridge officially recognizes 13 neighborhoods, which are as follows: In the Köppen-Geiger classification, Cambridge has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa) with hot summers and cold winters, that can appear in
2592-632: Is joined by a banjo that emphasizes the song's triple meter . Siegel compares the vocal to that of bluegrass musician Bill Monroe , in particular Monroe's rendition of the murder ballad "Roane County Prison", a traditional song from the Upper Cumberland area of Tennessee sometimes known as "In the Hills of Roane County". Elektra released Beatle Country in November 1966, and a 4-track cartridge release followed in March 1967. After hearing
2700-467: Is now within Harvard Square . The marketplace where farmers sold crops from surrounding towns at the edge of a salt marsh (since filled) remains within a small park at the corner of John F. Kennedy and Winthrop Streets. In 1636, Newe College, later renamed Harvard College after benefactor John Harvard , was founded as North America's first institution of higher learning . Its initial purpose
2808-483: Is south of Central Square, and bordered by MIT, the Charles River, Massachusetts Avenue, and River Street. Harvard Square is formed by the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, Dunster Street, and JFK Street. This is the primary site of Harvard University and a major Cambridge shopping area. It is served by a Red Line station . Harvard Square was originally the Red Line's northwestern terminus and
2916-530: The Cambridge and Concord Turnpike (today's Broadway and Concord Ave.), the Middlesex Turnpike (Hampshire St. and Massachusetts Ave. northwest of Porter Square ), and what are today's Cambridge, Main, and Harvard Streets connected various areas of Cambridge to the bridges. In addition, the town was connected to the Boston & Maine Railroad , leading to the development of Porter Square as well as
3024-586: The Continental Army and appointed George Washington commander of it, Washington arrived at Cambridge Common to take command of the Patriot soldiers camped there. Many of these soldiers played a role in supporting Washington's successful Siege of Boston , which trapped garrisoned British troops from moving by land, forcing the British to ultimately abandon Boston. Cambridge Common is thus celebrated as
3132-589: The Fig Newton , Necco , Squirrel Brands , George Close Company (1861–1930s), Page & Shaw , Daggett Chocolate (1892–1960s, recipes bought by Necco), Fox Cross Company (1920–1980, originator of the Charleston Chew , and now part of Tootsie Roll Industries ), Kendall Confectionery Company, and James O. Welch (1927–1963, originator of Junior Mints , Sugar Daddies , Sugar Mamas , and Sugar Babies , now part of Tootsie Roll Industries). Main Street
3240-479: The Great Depression and after World War II , Cambridge lost much of its industrial base. It also began to become an intellectual, rather than an industrial, center. Harvard University , which had always been important as both a landowner and an institution, began to play a more dominant role in the city's life and culture. When Radcliffe College was established in 1879, the town became a mecca for some of
3348-681: The Longfellow Bridge from Boston, at the eastern end of the MIT campus, it is served by the Kendall/MIT station on the MBTA Red Line subway. Most of Cambridge's large office towers are located in the Square. Kendall Square houses some of the biggest technological companies of the world, including Google , Microsoft , Amazon , Meta , and Apple . A biotech industry has developed in this area. The Cambridge Innovation Center ,
Charles River Valley Boys - Misplaced Pages Continue
3456-647: The Massachusetts General Court purchased the land that became present-day Cambridge from the Naumkeag Squaw Sachem of Mistick . The town comprised a much larger area than the present city, with various outlying parts becoming independent towns over the years: Cambridge Village (later Newtown and now Newton ) in 1688, Cambridge Farms (now Lexington ) in 1712 or 1713, and Little or South Cambridge (now Brighton ) and Menotomy or West Cambridge (now Arlington ) in 1807. In
3564-423: The dominant had "a drive perfectly suited for a straight-ahead bluegrass trio". Siggins added: "I think the instantaneous 'feel' of the song was the tipoff for me ... [a]dditionally, the lyrics could easily be (and in fact became) bluegrass lyrics". With their usual set list made up of old and new bluegrass and country songs, the band added an arrangement of "I've Just Seen a Face" to their set, along with
3672-413: The "all-too-familiar numbers a hopped-up bluegrass spin that makes them sound fresher than they have in years". Reviewing for AllMusic , Pemberton Roach awarded the album three out of five stars. Like Wolff, he similarly describes the album as "surprisingly ... excellent". He suggests that the band imbue the songs "with an authentic Kentucky mountain flavor", with the only kitsch on the album being
3780-439: The Beatles' latest and increasingly experimental releases, which Turner writes allowed the album to serve "as a contemporary bluegrass commentary on the growing experimentalism of the Beatles songbook". Several display complex chord progression that exist outside of the harmonic standards of bluegrass; in arranging them, Field recalled a process whereby they "intentionally 'countrified' the chords ... flattening [them] out
3888-407: The Beatles' song " I've Just Seen a Face " on the radio in late 1965, Jim Field recommended to his bandmates that they add it to their repertoire. Following the label's success the previous year with The Baroque Beatles Book , Elektra executive Jac Holzman acquired permission for the group to record an album of Beatles covers. Because the original versions often employ complex chord progressions ,
3996-629: The Cambridge Housing Authority and the Public Works Administration demolished an integrated low-income tenement neighborhood with African Americans and European immigrants. In its place, it built the whites-only " Newtowne Court " public housing development and the adjoining, blacks-only " Washington Elms " project in 1940; the city required segregation in its other public housing projects as well. As industry in New England began to decline during
4104-521: The Charles River Valley Boys had ever achieved". While the rest of the group were enthusiastic about the album's concept, Val, the oldest and most experienced of the group, was initially hesitant. Siggins recalls that Val "slowly got into it" and that "the clincher was that we did it in a great Nashville studio". Propelled by the group's fears that their fans would accuse them of selling out , Siggins recalled they attempted to record
4212-553: The Charles River Valley Boys' previous albums consisted of traditional and new bluegrass and some early country songs, Beatle Country contains only covers of the Beatles . The band and several session musicians completed the album at Columbia Studios in Nashville, Tennessee , across four days in September 1966. Paul A. Rothchild and Peter K. Siegel produced the album, with Glenn Snoddy as audio engineer . After hearing
4320-659: The Georgia Mail (1962), in London in July 1961. Banjoist Bob Siggins later recalled that they were well received as they toured pubs and folk clubs in London, and that "[we] did get a little flavor of pre-Beatles London at the time ... there were a lot of great musicians bubbling up all around us while we toured ... we heard rumors about [the Beatles] in Germany and how great they were". After returning to America,
4428-763: The Harvard student radio station WHRB and becoming regular performers at Tulla's Coffeehouse in Harvard Square. In 1961 they recorded an album, Bringin' In The Georgia Mail , partly in Cambridge and partly in London , England . It was released in the UK by Doug Dobell on his Folklore label. In 1962, Paul Rothchild , a friend of the band who had worked as a record distributor in the Boston area, produced their second album on his own label, Mount Auburn Records. He then began working for Prestige Records , which reissued
Charles River Valley Boys - Misplaced Pages Continue
4536-500: The LP's poor sales, record labels recognized that recording Beatles songs in new styles was insufficient for commercial success and instead pivoted towards recording covers for general audiences in the more widely popular genre of easy listening . Beatle Country subsequently achieved cult status , becoming a valued collector's item; Craig Harris of AllMusic writes it sometimes sold for as much as $ 75, while Siggins recalled people paying hundreds of dollars for copies. More than just
4644-606: The LP, such as " Yes It Is ". When the Boston Bluegrass Union awarded the Charles River Valley Boys the Heritage Award in 2013, the band reunited and performed "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Help!" during the award ceremony at the city's annual Joe Val Bluegrass Festival . All songs written by Lennon–McCartney , except "What Goes On", by Lennon–McCartney– Starkey . Track lengths per the 1995 reissue liner notes . Side one Side two According to
4752-492: The album as Bluegrass And Old Timey Music (1962), and produced a further album on the label, Blue Grass Get Together (with Tex Logan , 1964). By that time, the group comprised Siggins, Signer, John Cooke (guitar, vocals), and Fritz Richmond ( washtub bass , vocals). Cooke, the son of English-born journalist Alistair Cooke , had joined after Eric Sackheim decided to return to his studies in Europe. Between 1963 and 1965,
4860-440: The album is "more interesting than captivating" and finds "Norwegian Wood" the only cover on the album which "stands on its own as a great bluegrass performance". Reviewing the album's 1995 CD release for CMJ New Music Monthly magazine, Andrea Moed writes that in hindsight the LP was "visionary ... foreshadowing both the 'newgrass' movement of the '70s and the pop stylings of people like Mike Nesmith ". She remarks that
4968-460: The album on CD on 23 March 1995, the cover art was changed to be closer to the bands original expectations, depicting a sepia-toned group of bluegrass musicians in suits. Siggins stated that the updated cover shows "what [we] thought were Beatles clothes ... or ' mod ' English clothes". Collectors' Choice Music reissued the album on CD in 2005, releasing it alongside 14 other rare albums from Elektra's archives. Both CD releases resulted in
5076-455: The album to 2,225 radio stations that programmed "even an hour of country music". Siegel reflects that Elektra likely desired to extend the album's sales to beyond the small bluegrass market, but the strategy instead confused both country and bluegrass fans. Overseen by William S. Harvey , then the art director of Elektra, Eros Keith created the album's cover artwork. The image depicts a group of cowboys "psychedelically clad", looking out at
5184-498: The album was not followed up. The Charles River Valley Boys split up in 1968. Beatle Country became a sought-after collectors' item before it was reissued on CD by Rounder Records in 1995. Bob Siggins died on September 22, 2023, at the age of 85. Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( / ˈ k eɪ m b r ɪ dʒ / KAYM -brij ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts , United States. It
5292-529: The album, Beatles bassist Paul McCartney sent a letter to the label expressing his appreciation of it. The LP was a commercial failure, peaking at No. 127 on Cash Box 's Top 100 Albums chart in January 1967. Critic Stephen L. Betts credits the release's commercial failure to Elektra's weak marketing campaign. Rather than marketing the album towards bluegrass fans, they instead focused on mainstream country and pop music audiences, sending copies of
5400-495: The band encountered Paul A. Rothchild , then an advocate of folk music and a frequenter of the Cambridge folk scene in the early 1960s. Attending Club 47, a performance by the Charles River Valley Boys enthralled Rothchild, who offered to produce an album for the group. The result, Bluegrass and Old Timey Music (1962), along with the subsequent Blue Grass Get Together (1964), mostly consisted of traditional and new bluegrass songs and some early country songs. [The Beatles] had
5508-581: The birthplace of the Continental Army. The Massachusett inhabited the area that is now called Cambridge for thousands of years prior to European colonization of the Americas , most recently under the name Anmoughcawgen , which means 'fishing weir' or 'beaver dam' in Natick . At the time of European contact, the area was inhabited by Naumkeag or Pawtucket to the north and Massachusett to
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#17327825764905616-490: The breaks on "What Goes On" and " Help! ", Rosenberg characterizes Val's playing as "clean, uncluttered, [and] a distinctive style with great feeling". He calls the singing on "I Saw Her Standing There" "forced", while describing "Norwegian Wood" as the high point of the album in terms of both its vocal and instrumental performance. He further praises Spicher and Wingfield's contributions, while also lauding Siggins for his humorous arrangement of "Yellow Submarine". He concludes that
5724-535: The bursting of the United States housing bubble in 2008 and 2009. Cambridge has been a sanctuary city since 1985 and reaffirmed its status as such in 2006. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , Cambridge has a total area of 7.1 square miles (18 km ), 6.4 square miles (17 km ) of which is land and 0.7 square miles (1.8 km ) (9.82%) of which is water. Cambridge is located in eastern Massachusetts, bordered by: The border between Cambridge and
5832-548: The carving up of the last estates into residential subdivisions to house the thousands of immigrants who arrived to work in the new industries. For much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the city's largest employer was the New England Glass Company , founded in 1818. By the middle of the 19th century, it was the world's largest and most modern glassworks. In 1888, Edward Drummond Libbey moved all production to Toledo, Ohio , where it continues today under
5940-406: The city . Within four years of repealing the law, Cambridge, where "the city's form of rent control was unusually strict," saw new housing and construction increase by 50%, and the tax revenue from construction permits tripled. Property values in Cambridge increased by about $ 7.8 billion in the decade following the repeal. Roughly a quarter of this increase, $ 1.8 billion ($ 3 billion in 2024 dollars),
6048-477: The city. The population density was 16,354.9 inhabitants per square mile (6,314.7/km ). There were 47,291 housing units at an average density of 7,354.7 per square mile (2,839.7/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 66.60% White , 11.70% Black or African American , 0.20% Native American , 15.10% Asian (3.7% Chinese , 1.4% Asian Indian , 1.2% Korean , 1.0% Japanese ), 0.01% Pacific Islander , 2.10% from other races, and 4.30% from two or more races. 7.60% of
6156-512: The company sold over 150,000 copies of a novelty record of Baroque style Beatles covers, The Baroque Beatles Book , arranged by conductor Joshua Rifkin . With the commercial success of this LP in mind, record company executive Jac Holzman granted permission for the Charles River Valley Boys and Rothchild to record an album-length collection of Beatles covers. Recording for Beatle Country took place over four days in September 1966 at Columbia Studios in Nashville, Tennessee . The album
6264-573: The construction of West Boston Bridge in 1792 connecting Cambridge directly to Boston , making it no longer necessary to travel eight miles (13 km) through the Boston Neck , Roxbury , and Brookline to cross the Charles River . A second bridge, the Canal Bridge, opened in 1809 alongside the new Middlesex Canal . The new bridges and roads made what were formerly estates and marshland into prime industrial and residential districts. In
6372-543: The core performers of the Charles River Valley Boys in the early years were Eric Sackheim (guitar, mandolin ), Bob Siggins (banjo, vocals), and Clay Jackson (guitar, vocals), all students at Harvard , and Ethan Signer (guitar, mandolin, autoharp , vocals), a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . All were fans of bluegrass and old-timey music , and they began performing together, often with others, at Harvard, appearing regularly on
6480-541: The country-inflected Beatles song " What Goes On ". Performing the covers in February 1966 at the War Memorial Auditorium during Boston's Winterfest, the band received a positive reception from the 5,600-person audience. On the strength of this performance, they sent a demo recording of four songs – two of which were Beatles covers – to Rothchild, now working at Elektra Records . The previous year,
6588-461: The cover of "I've Just Seen a Face" as "like a lost bluegrass standard". He further opines that while the album is "[n]ot entirely proto- country rock ", the entirely acoustic arrangements "still [manage] to convey the basic rock feel inherent in tracks like ' And Your Bird Can Sing ' and 'Ticket to Ride. ' " In the months after its release, sales for Beatle Country quickly subsided. Composer and author Jack Curtis Dubowsky writes that, in light of
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#17327825764906696-504: The cover repeats the chorus twice. Turner opines that this serves to emphasize the "quintessential bluegrass technique" of close three-part harmonies. She describes the biggest differences between versions as consisting in their different textures and timbres , and in particular the Charles River Valley Boys' "incessant, 'walking' upright bass line that provides energetic drive, sparking mandolin tremolo , rolling banjo figures, and intricate, often double-stopped fiddle motifs that permeate
6804-520: The creation of neighboring Somerville from the formerly rural parts of Charlestown . Cambridge was incorporated as a city in 1846. The city's commercial center began to shift from Harvard Square to Central Square, which became the city's downtown around that time. Between 1850 and 1900, Cambridge took on much of its present character, featuring streetcar suburban development along the turnpikes and working class and industrial neighborhoods focused on East Cambridge, comfortable middle-class housing on
6912-588: The era of rent control in Massachusetts , at least 20 percent of all rent controlled apartments in Cambridge housed the rich. The vast majority housed middle- and high-income earners. In an independent study conducted of 2/3 of the rent controlled apartments in Cambridge in 1988, 246 were households headed by doctors, 298 by lawyers, 265 by architects, 259 by professors, and 220 by engineers. There were 2,650 with students, including 1,503 with graduate students. Those who lived in rent controlled apartments included The end of rent control in 1994 had numerous effects on
7020-666: The first convenient Charles River crossing west of Boston , Newtowne was one of several towns, including Boston, Dorchester , Watertown , and Weymouth , founded by the 700 original Puritan colonists of the Massachusetts Bay Colony under Governor John Winthrop . Its first preacher was Thomas Hooker , who led many of its original inhabitants west in 1636 to found Hartford and the Connecticut Colony ; before leaving, they sold their plots to more recent immigrants from England. The original village site
7128-657: The first network router in 1969 and hosted the invention of computer-to-computer email in 1971. The 1980s brought a wave of high technology startups. Those selling advanced minicomputers were overtaken by the microcomputer . Cambridge-based VisiCorp made the first spreadsheet software for personal computers, VisiCalc , and helped propel the Apple II to consumer success. It was overtaken and purchased by Cambridge-based Lotus Development , maker of Lotus 1-2-3 (which was, in turn, replaced in by Microsoft Excel ). The city continues to be home to many startups. Kendall Square
7236-469: The first rendition of the Beatles as country music, Beatle Country presaged Newgrass , which it antedated by several years. In that regard, it was a groundbreaking recording, demonstrating that material from outside the genre could be rendered as bluegrass. – Boston Bluegrass Union, 2013 Beatle Country influenced the progressive bluegrass ("newgrass") movement of the 1970s, which saw bluegrass extending its harmonic and melodic range to incorporate
7344-651: The force of Patriot soldiers camped on Cambridge Common on July 3, 1775, which is now considered the birthplace of the Continental Army . On January 24, 1776, Henry Knox arrived with an artillery train captured from Fort Ticonderoga , which allowed Washington to force the British Army to evacuate Boston . Most of the Loyalist estates in Cambridge were confiscated after the Revolutionary War . Between 1790 and 1840, Cambridge grew rapidly with
7452-431: The furor, Siggins and Field recalled that it had no impact on their project. Having undergone several personnel changes in the years prior, the Charles River Valley Boys' 1966 line up consisted of Siggins on banjo, Field on guitar, Joe Val on mandolin and Everett A. Lilly on upright bass , with the first three also providing vocals. Siegel described this group as "the strongest, most uniform bluegrass band sound that
7560-753: The group " 'countrified' the chords ... 'flattening ' " them out to bring the songs into the style of bluegrass. In addition to using rolling banjos, upright bass and a high lonesome tenor vocal, they further changed the songs structurally, allowing for extra instrumental breaks – a typical feature of bluegrass music, where each musician is allowed the chance to solo. Upon release, Elektra promoted Beatle Country towards mainstream country and pop music audiences rather than to bluegrass fans. A commercial failure, it peaked at No. 127 on Cash Box ' s Top 100 Albums chart in January 1967. The album's ineffective marketing campaign allowed it to fall into obscurity, subsequently attaining cult status and becoming
7668-434: The group Bluegrass Association covered "I've Just Seen a Face" for their 1974 album Strings Today ... And Yesterday , they based their arrangement on the Charles River Valley Boys' version. Following the Charles River Valley Boys' 1970 disbandment, their LPs remained out-of-print until Beatle Country 's 1995 CD re-release. Field reflects that, despite Beatle Country being their biggest success, they remained
7776-550: The group performed and toured on a full-time basis. By 1966, Signer, Cooke and Richmond had left, and the group comprised Bob Siggins, Joe Val (mandolin, vocals), Jim Field (guitar, vocals) and Everett Allen Lilly (bass). Val had previously played in groups with Bill Keith ; Field had been a member of the New York Ramblers with David Grisman ; and Lilly was the son of Everett Lilly from the Lilly Brothers ,
7884-431: The idea from the Beatles themselves, and the album was recorded in Nashville with additional support from musicians Buddy Spicher (fiddle), Craig Wingfield ( dobro ), and Eric Thompson (lead guitar). Siggins later said: "A lot of the folkies were into the Beatles big time, on the sly if nothing else, including us. We just thought a lot of [their songs] would adapt themselves to a country sound...As we got into learning
7992-466: The larger concept of folk revival – city-based youths seeking the sounds of a supposedly 'authentic' America". In the early 1960s, they became popular in Boston and within the Cambridge folk scene, performing regularly on Harvard College 's WHRB radio station and at local coffee houses and folk clubs, including Club 47 . The Charles River Valley Boys recorded parts of their first album, Bringin' in
8100-619: The late 1990s; it underwent gentrification in recent years (in conjunction with the development of the nearby University Park at MIT ), and continues to grow more costly. It is served by the Central Station stop on the MBTA Red Line subway. Lafayette Square , formed by the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Columbia Street, Sidney Street, and Main Street, is considered part of the Central Square area. Cambridgeport
8208-416: The late 19th century, various schemes for annexing Cambridge to Boston were pursued and rejected. Newtowne's ministers, Hooker and Shepard, the college's first president , the college's major benefactor, and the first schoolmaster Nathaniel Eaton were all Cambridge alumni, as was the colony's governor John Winthrop. In 1629, Winthrop had led the signing of the founding document of the city of Boston, which
8316-421: The mid-19th century, Cambridge was the center of a literary revolution. It was home to some of the famous Fireside poets , named because their poems would often be read aloud by families in front of their evening fires. The Fireside poets, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , James Russell Lowell , and Oliver Wendell Holmes , were highly popular and influential in this era. Soon after, turnpikes were built:
8424-470: The monitors, I felt like Joe [Val] was achieving an essential melding of the Beatles songs and the bluegrass style, and it's something I'll never forget. – Peter K. Siegel, 2015 The Beatles' songs the Charles River Valley Boys selected for the album varied chronologically from the December 1963 B-side " I Saw Her Standing There " to the August 1966 A-side " Yellow Submarine ". Some picks were from
8532-693: The name Owens-Illinois . The company's flint glassware with heavy lead content is prized by antique glass collectors, and the Toledo Museum of Art has a large collection. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Sandwich Glass Museum on Cape Cod also house several pieces. In 1895, Edwin Ginn , founder of Ginn and Company , built the Athenaeum Press Building for his publishing textbook empire. By 1920, Cambridge
8640-466: The nation's most academically talented female students. MIT 's move from Boston to Cambridge in 1916 reinforced Cambridge's status as an intellectual center of the United States. After the 1950s, the city's population began to decline slowly as families tended to be replaced by single people and young couples. In Cambridge Highlands, the technology company Bolt, Beranek, & Newman produced
8748-574: The neighboring city of Somerville passes through densely populated neighborhoods, which are connected by the MBTA Red Line . Some of the main squares, Inman , Porter, and to a lesser extent, Harvard and Lechmere , are very close to the city line, as are Somerville's Union and Davis Squares . Through the City of Cambridge's exclusive municipal water system, the city further controls two exclave areas, one being Payson Park Reservoir and Gatehouse,
8856-478: The old Cambridgeport, and Mid-Cambridge estates and upper-class enclaves near Harvard University and on the minor hills. The arrival of the railroad in North Cambridge and Northwest Cambridge led to three changes: the development of massive brickyards and brickworks between Massachusetts Avenue , Concord Avenue , and Alewife Brook ; the ice-cutting industry launched by Frederic Tudor on Fresh Pond ; and
8964-456: The ones that weren't so country too. – Bob Siggins, 2001 In the lead up to the 6 December 1965 release of the Beatles ' album Rubber Soul , the Charles River Valley Boys' guitarist, Jim Field, recalled hearing " I've Just Seen a Face " on the radio and thinking "it instantly felt like bluegrass". In particular, the I–vi–IV–V chord progression of the verses and the chorus beginning on
9072-514: The playing on " She's a Woman " and "Help!" display a "technical virtuosity [that] almost makes you forget the songs' origins". Reviewing the same release for the Chicago Tribune , Tom Popson suggests the covers point to either the "universality in Beatles material or the Charles River Valley Boys' skill at adaptation – or both". He concludes that the album is "more a pleasant diversion than tour-de-force", writing that while "Norwegian Wood"
9180-482: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race (1.6% Puerto Rican , 1.4% Mexican , 0.6% Dominican , 0.5% Colombian & Salvadoran , 0.4% Spaniard ). Non-Hispanic Whites were 62.1% of the population in 2010, down from 89.7% in 1970. An individual resident of Cambridge is known as a Cantabrigian . In 2010, there were 44,032 households, out of which 16.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.9% were married couples living together, 8.4% had
9288-399: The pronunciation of "Yellow Submarine" as "Yeller Submarine". He concludes that the LP remains both interesting as a novelty record and as "an excellent bluegrass album by any measure, regardless of the unusual source of its material". By contrast, John Paul of the online magazine Spectrum Culture describes the album as "[n]ot quite a novelty record yet far from essential". He characterizes
9396-410: The pronunciation of "yellow submarine" to " yeller submarine". He further recalled: "We often stress the word 'yeller' to this day, to make it even cornier, as in the ' old yeller ' dog name". The Charles Valley River Boys' version of " Norwegian Wood " transposes from the original modal E to a modal A . In place of the original guitar- sitar intro is a mandolin tremolo . Val's first vocal
9504-401: The songs "as hard-core bluegrass as we could". Complementing the Charles River Valley Boys were several session musicians , including Nashville fiddler Buddy Spicher , West Virginia dobro player Craig Wingfield and California guitarist Eric Thompson. The session musicians were not informed of the album's concept so as to maintain secrecy and prevent another record company from releasing
9612-418: The songs, we discovered that the singing they did lent itself well to bluegrass harmonies, which we liked to kind of layer on top of the lead vocal. And they did some kind of similar things....We just had a lot of fun with it. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun work. Working out the harmonies, especially. We weren't like super-hot, hard-driving instrumentalists, really, although we tried. And that's, in
9720-420: The sounds of other musical genres. Siggins reflected that the album's influence extended to "[breaking] the ground to such an extent ... that [it] kind of loosened the strictures against any experimentation with bluegrass". Field stated that the album "[unleashed] a lot of people", including Sam Bush of the American progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival , who listened to the album regularly. When
9828-461: The south, and may have been inhabited by other groups such as the Totant, not well described in later European narratives. The contact period introduced a number of European infectious diseases which would decimate native populations in virgin soil epidemics , leaving the area uncontested upon the arrival of large groups of English settlers in 1630. In December 1630, the site of present-day Cambridge
9936-402: The southern end of New England's interior. Abundant rain falls on the city (and in the winter often as snow); it has no dry season. The average January temperature is 26.6 °F (−3 °C), making Cambridge part of Group D, independent of the isotherm. There are four well-defined seasons. As of the census of 2010, there were 105,162 people, 44,032 households, and 17,420 families residing in
10044-507: The texture". The band's cover of "Yellow Submarine" incorporates several sound effects added during the mixing process in New York, including ricochet gunfire and a mechanical wind-up toy . Sung in a comic tone by Siggins, he recalled that they tried to make it sound "as corny as possible ... kind of like an old hee-haw movie". Siggins adapted his singing style to sound like the banjoist and entertainer Uncle Dave Macon , changing
10152-480: The theater district of Swinging London . Created without the band's involvement, they were unhappy with the result, with Siggins recalling "we were as shocked as anyone!" Field explained that he interpreted the art as the label's attempt to expand beyond the bluegrass market: "they didn't want to put pictures of us holding banjos and mandolins and stuff like that because everyone would have said 'oh, it's bluegrass, I don't like bluegrass. ' " When Rounder re-released
10260-515: The town comprising farms and estates. Most inhabitants were descendants of the original Puritan colonists, but there was also a small elite of Anglican "worthies" who were not involved in village life, made their livings from estates, investments, and trade, and lived in mansions along "the Road to Watertown", present-day Brattle Street , which is still known as Tory Row . The Virginian George Washington , coming from Philadelphia , took command of
10368-489: Was a software hub through the dot-com boom and today hosts offices of such technology companies as Google, Microsoft , and Amazon . The Square also now houses the headquarters of Akamai . In 1976, Harvard's plans to start experiments with recombinant DNA led to a three-month moratorium and a citizen review panel. In the end, Cambridge decided to allow such experiments but passed safety regulations in 1977. This led to regulatory certainty and acceptance when Biogen opened
10476-455: Was an important center of the Puritan theology that was embraced by the town's founders. Harvard University , an Ivy League university founded in Cambridge in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Lesley University , and Hult International Business School also are based in Cambridge. Radcliffe College ,
10584-482: Was chosen for settlement because it was safely upriver from Boston Harbor , making it easily defensible from attacks by enemy ships. The city was founded by Thomas Dudley , his daughter Anne Bradstreet , and his son-in-law Simon Bradstreet . The first houses were built in the spring of 1631. The settlement was initially referred to as "the newe towne". Official Massachusetts records show the name rendered as Newe Towne by 1632, and as Newtowne by 1638. Located at
10692-420: Was done at the height of Beatlemania , and not as a revisionist afterthought ... [it] is hardly a novelty record". Critic Kurt Wolff writes that while the album began as an attempt to capitalize on Beatlemania, the music "turns out to be surprisingly strong and well-arranged". He opines that the album – in particular, the covers of "Baby's in Black", "Ticket to Ride" and " Paperback Writer " – helps provide
10800-548: Was due to the repeal of rent control. Close to 40% of all Cambridge properties were under rent control when it was repealed. Their property values appreciated faster than non-rent controlled properties, as did the properties around them. By the end of the 20th century, Cambridge had one of the most costly housing markets in the Northeastern United States . Cambridge's mix of amenities and proximity to Boston kept housing prices relatively stable despite
10908-591: Was known as the Cambridge Agreement , after the university. In 1650, Governor Thomas Dudley signed the charter creating the corporation that still governs Harvard College. Cambridge grew slowly as an agricultural village eight miles (13 km) by road from Boston, the colony 's capital. By the American Revolution , most residents lived near the Common and Harvard College, with most of
11016-743: Was nicknamed "Confectioner's Row". Only the Cambridge Brands subsidiary of Tootsie Roll Industries remains in town, still manufacturing Junior Mints in the old Welch factory on Main Street. The Blake and Knowles Steam Pump Company (1886), the Kendall Boiler and Tank Company (1880, now in Chelmsford, Massachusetts ), and the New England Glass Company (1818–1878) were among the industrial manufacturers in what are now Kendall Square and East Cambridge. In 1935,
11124-782: Was one among the first cities established in the Thirteen Colonies , and it went on to play a historic role during the American Revolution . In May 1775, approximately 16,000 American patriots assembled in Cambridge Common to begin organizing a military retaliation against British troops following the Battles of Lexington and Concord . On July 2, 1775, two weeks after the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia formally established
11232-633: Was one of New England 's main industrial cities, with nearly 120,000 residents. Among the largest businesses in Cambridge during the period of industrialization was Carter's Ink Company , whose neon sign long adorned the Charles River and which was for many years the world's largest ink manufacturer. Next door was the Athenaeum Press. Confectionery and snack manufacturers in the Cambridgeport-Area 4-Kendall corridor included Kennedy Biscuit Factory, later part of Nabisco and originator of
11340-467: Was produced by Rothchild and Peter K. Siegel and engineered by Glenn Snoddy . Siegel recalled that Rothchild chose the studio because it was where Bob Dylan had recorded his 1966 album, Blonde on Blonde , and thought it would provide an authentic bluegrass sound. The previous month, Beatles rhythm guitarist John Lennon 's controversial comment that the Beatles were " more popular than Jesus " provoked indignation among American Southerners . Despite
11448-503: Was re-released on CD in 1995 and in 2005. The Charles River Valley Boys formed in the late 1950s in Cambridge, Massachusetts , with young musicians meeting at a local coffee house, Tulla's Coffee Grinder, to jam together. One of the first urban, northern United States bluegrass bands to form, the group focused on Appalachian , classic bluegrass and early country music . Music scholar Laura Turner comments that "[t]he band's sound, repertoire, and intellectual acumen fit perfectly into
11556-479: Was renamed "Baldwin" in 2021, and so some know the area better by its former name, Agassiz, after the famed scientist Louis Agassiz . Porter Square is about a mile north on Massachusetts Avenue from Harvard Square, at the junction of Massachusetts and Somerville Avenues. It includes part of the city of Somerville and is served by the Porter Square Station , a complex housing a Red Line stop and
11664-480: Was training ministers . According to Cotton Mather , Newtowne was chosen for the site of the college by the Great and General Court , then the legislature of Massachusetts Bay Colony , primarily for its proximity to the popular and highly respected Puritan preacher Thomas Shepard . In May 1638, the settlement's name was changed to Cambridge in honor of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge , England. In 1639,
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