[1] 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,[2] and to the Charles River, which flows through Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts.
Although the group's membership changed frequently, 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.
[7] 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).
[3][9] 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.
[3][9] Label boss Jac Holzman flew to London to get clearance for 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).
Although it achieved some success, Rothchild then began working in California with rock bands, most notably The Doors, and the album was not followed up.
[9] Beatle Country became a sought-after collectors' item before it was reissued on CD by Rounder Records in 1995.