The Chad Mitchell Trio, later known as The Mitchell Trio, was an American vocal group that rose to prominence during the 1960s.
They were known for performing traditional folk songs and some of John Denver's early compositions. The original group was formed in 1958 by William Chadbourne "Chad" Mitchell, Mike Kobluk, and Mike Pugh when they were students and glee club members at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, United States.
They were encouraged by Spokane Catholic priest Reinard W. Frazier.
Chad Mitchell Trio at the University of Michigan, c. 1960s
Key Influences and Early Success
The key people who helped the trio were musical arranger Milton Okun and star performer/singer Harry Belafonte. Okun provided a professional polish to their performing skills, which helped them gain both a key booking at New York City's Blue Angel club and radio appearances with Arthur Godfrey and television appearances with Pat Boone.
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Transition to Controversial Material
After recording mostly conventional folk songs, the trio released a then-daring satire of the John Birch Society (Fighting for the right to fight/The right fight for the Right!), which established their ability to perform more controversial material.
Their departure from Belafonte Enterprises in 1962, followed by their move to Mercury Records in 1963, gave them more freedom to add aggressively political songs to their body of folk, love, and world-music songs.
Personnel Changes and Solo Careers
Mitchell left the trio in 1965 to embark on a solo singing career. Another audition process replaced him with the young (and unknown) singer/songwriter John Denver. Frazier's departure from the trio in 1966 brought in replacement David Boise.
Mike Kobluk, Joe Frazier and David Boise later left the music industry; Chad Mitchell released a number of solo albums before retiring from music; Denver's time with the trio became the springboard to his successful solo career. Michael Johnson recorded more than 15 albums as a solo artist; he died at his Minneapolis home on July 25, 2017.
Reunions
The Mitchell/Kobluk/Frazier trio and John Denver united in 1987 for several concerts, some broadcast on PBS. The Mitchell/Kobluk/Frazier trio reunited again in 2005 for a short program, as part of a concert also featuring Tom Paxton and The Kingston Trio's current lineup, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Mitchell/Kobluk/Frazier reunited again for a one-night performance on October 6, 2007, in Spokane, home of their alma mater, and where Mitchell and Kobluk live about two blocks apart. For several years they continued to tour with artists like Tom Paxton and performed for President Obama at a 40th anniversary celebration in Washington D.C. for Representative Dave Obey, who is a fan of the group.
Musical Style and Impact
While the Mitchell Trio became best known for such songs, they also produced a solid body of work which showed that folk music could be "polished" yet remain close to its roots.
The Trio's first recordings for Colpix were similar to the conventional folk songs that were gaining popularity then as an alternative to the early rock-and-roll genre. Their next Kapp album contained "The John Birch Society". The trio's Mercury albums continued its trend to record topical and controversial songs.
"Twelve Days" imagined a group of former Nazis singing new lyrics to the old Christmas carol; a similar theme would be explored later in the "I Was Not A Nazi Polka". "Barry's Boys" ("You too can join the crew/Tippecanoe and Nixon, too"), a song from Julius Monk's "Dime a Dozen, which portrayed a view of the followers of conservative Republican 1964 Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. "A Dying Business" went after funeral costs and customs, while "The Draft Dodger Rag" (by Phil Ochs: "Sarge, I'm only eighteen/I got a ruptured spleen/And I always carry a purse") explored the beginnings of resistance to the Vietnam War. "What Kind of Life Is That" pondered on celebrity fame (specifically, that of Elizabeth Taylor).
They recorded shanties numbers like "Whup Jamboree" and "The Golden Vanity", as well as folk dance numbers like "Hello Susan Brown". Their rendition of the southern traditional prison work song “Ain’t No More Cane On This Brazos” combines lyrics from several different established versions from over the years. They could do rousing gospel music numbers like "You Can Tell The World", "I Feel So Good About It (Sin Bound Train)", and "One Day When I Was Lost (Easter Morn)".
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They were the first folk group to record many of the songs of Tom Paxton, such as "The Marvelous Toy", "What Did You Learn In School Today?", and "We Didn't Know". They also sang the work of Woody Guthrie ("The Great Historical Bum (Bragging Song)"), Shel Silverstein ("The Hip Song (It Does Not Pay To Be Hip)", "Yowzah" "Three Legged Man"), and Bob Dylan ("Blowin' in the Wind" (they were in fact the first to release it, but Peter, Paul and Mary's subsequent rendition became the best-known cover version),[5] "With God On Our Side", "Mr. The Mitchell Trio also did the first major recording of John Denver's later hit "For Baby (For Bobbi)" and also handled his "Leaving on a Jet Plane". Their final album offered a soft, harmonized version of The Beatles' "She Loves You". Johnny Cash cited their version of "Four Strong Winds" as a stylistic influence and included it on his Artist's Choice album of favorites.
Chad Mitchell Trio - My Name is Morgan
The Chad Mitchell Trio left an indelible mark on American folk music. Their willingness to tackle controversial subjects set them apart and paved the way for future generations of socially conscious musicians.
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