I'm sorry that I didn't know Dave, nor was I able to attend a Highwaymen concert in the sixties. They -- The Highwaymen -- were full-time college students based on the East Coast, and juggling college studies with recording hit records and making concert appearances. I was a full-time college student in the West (Colorado) with a folk trio, no hit records, and only a few local concert appearances. But our similarities far exceeded our differences, so I felt a great affinity for them -- and a little bit of envy, truth be known.

The original Highwaymen, Dave Fisher, Steve Trott, Bob Burnett, Steve Butts and Chan Daniels, were freshmen at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut and formed the group during their freshman year. In 1960 they signed with United Artists and recorded an album from which "Michael" was released as a single, and it became a number one hit in the summer of 1961. More hits followed, including "Cotton Fields," and the original members juggled studying with recording and performing until they graduated in 1962, after which Steve Trott left the group to be replaced by Gil Robbins. But within a year or so they went their separate ways, pursuing careers for which they had studied. For Dave Fisher, that was music, and he worked as a songwriter and arranger, as well as a producer of movies and TV shows.

The original group, with the exception of Chan Daniels who passed away in 1975, reunited in 1987 and subsequently performed a dozen or so concerts a year, including through August of 2009 when they last performed together. But as Dave's health deteriorated, it become increasingly difficult for them to do so, and it is unlikely that they will perform again. They identified with each other as a group and that is how they want to be remembered.

~Allan Shaw