The Kingston Trio, unique and influencial folk group

I'm making this page about The Kingston Trio because The Kingston Trio is without a doubt one of the best folk music groups ever, second only to Peter Paul and Mary if that. The Kingston Trio has a unique and wonderful great folk music sound.
Two of The Kingston Trio's original members met in high school in Hawaii, where they had been living before attending college in California. They got together in college around a common love of Island and Calypso music, and, when, after college they decided to form a trio (for a more detailed history of their start, check out this lens), they named themselves "The Kingston Trio" after Kingston Jamaica, as they were planning be strictly an island/calypso singing group, But, for some reason, they decided to try the American folk song "Tom Dooley," about the 1868 hanging of the named confederate veteran for brutally stabbing his fiance, Laura foster. To Everyone's surprise, "Tom Dooley" by The Kingston Trio rose rapidly to #1, so when their agent handed them a box of money and told them they were folk singers they readily agreed. The rest is folk music history. In fact, "Tom Dooley" became #1 in 1958 and folk music historians agree that it was the popularity of this one song which started the folk music revival two years later. (See my other lens: American Folk Music, Past, Present and Future) Listen to this, The Kingston Trio's first #1 hit for yourself below and for more see the Wikipedia module and also the link list titled "The Kingston trio Vocal Group Hall of Fame inductees" further down (click links to read the articles.)
The Kingston Trio did more than perhaps any other group to bring the rich tradition of folk music into the mainstream of American popular music for the first time. Find out how.
Check out their hits and albums below and read about what happened next.