And meanwhile, although it wasn't really a children's song in the purest sense of the word, a lot of the appeal of "The Unicorn" was centered on younger listeners and their parents, and as their audiences grew, and large numbers of children started attending their shows, they had to cut back on the number of songs about drinking and other "ribald" subjects that would have been part of their usual set in previous years. Around this time, accordionist Wilcil McDowell, a friend of the bandmembers who also hailed from the Emerald Isle, joined the group to broaden the Rovers' sound. Yet here were the Irish Rovers, with one of the Top Ten singles in the country, and an album of the same name also selling well.nn The record did bring about several changes for the group, however. The latter reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968, an extraordinary achievement at the time - the mass popularity of folk music had begun receding as far back as 1965, as most of the top younger performers switched to electric instruments, and the folk-rock and psychedelic booms had done little to make the marketplace more hospitable. Written by Shel Silverstein, the renowned humorist, author, and singer, "The Unicorn" was popular on Millar's show and the group cut it as an album track and a single. It was Will Millar, who had hosted a children's show in Calgary, who provided them with an extra number, a children's song that had gone over well on his program. label Decca Records, who was so impressed with the group and their presentation that he not only got them signed to the label, but made the decision not to tamper with a good thing, and allow their debut album to be a live recording from the Ice House.nnTheir debut, The First of the Irish Rovers, was successful enough to justify a follow-up, and it was at that point that they began to run short of fully worthwhile repertory. There, they were heard by Charles "Bud" Dant, an executive with the U.S. And they were popular enough at both venues to end up making a circuit of the still-vibrant folk club scene across the United States, then back to Canada, and finally a return visit to the Ice House in 1966. At that time, they were a straight folk act with lots of good-time songs and between-song humor about drinking and other pleasures of the flesh. Their original inspiration came from Tommy Makem & the Clancy Brothers, mixing shared vocals and somewhat heavier instrumental prowess.nn After a successful engagement at a coffeehouse in Calgary where they honed their act for weeks, the group headed south to the United States, where they managed to get booked into the Purple Onion in San Francisco - where the Kingston Trio and other renowned acts had been fixtures for years - and then to the Ice House in Pasadena.
It was Millar's mother who suggested, on hearing the duo rehearse, that they use the name the Irish Rovers, from the song "The Irish Rover." The duo of Millar and Ferguson became a trio with the addition of new immigrant Joe Millar (vocals, accordion), George's cousin, in 1964, and a quartet when the trio headed to Calgary, Alberta to add Will Millar (guitar, banjo, vocals) - George's older brother, who was hosting a children's television show at the time - to the lineup. As teenagers, founders George Millar (guitar, vocals, banjo) and Jimmy Ferguson (vocals) were former residents of Northern Ireland, living in Toronto, when they started singing together in 1963, originally for cigarette and beer money. The Irish Rovers were one of the more popular folk-based singing groups to come out of Ireland in the mid-'60s, although they had to do it by way of Canada.
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