[1] The group, consisting of Bruce Jay Paskow, Tom Goodkind, and Lauren Agnelli,[1] came up with their name over free drinks provided by Agnelli, who was a waitress at a Mickey Ruskin's Chinese Chance off Washington Square Park where Goodkind and Paskow were regulars.

Paskow, Goodkind, and Agnelli dressed, played, and sang in a style evocative of the idealistic, left-leaning folk revival groups of the Kennedy era, but added a layer of post-punk Reagan-era irony.

Paskow had previously played in the punk band The Invaders; Agnelli had been in the Nervus Rex and a writer for the Village Voice; Goodkind, the band's leader, had knocked around in U.S. Ape and was best known as creator and manager of large alternative music venues in Manhattan such as Irving Plaza, the Peppermint Lounge, and Roseland.

[1] The revivalist concept preceded any real familiarity with this genre of music: to put together their repertoire, the band bought a bunch of records, picked the brains of veteran folksingers, and pooled their money to send Goodkind to Washington, D.C. to do research on folk songs at the Library of Congress.

Their second was produced by Steve Soles, noted for his work with Bob Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Revue, and as a member of the Alpha Band with T-Bone Burnett.