In an attempt to generally follow your line of questioning, when I started with the KT I had no intention of imitating or even emulating Nick. I will say that he's the one who always drew my attention whenever I saw the original Trio on TV, mainly because of his energy and care-free attitude on stage. But I never did see The Trio live during that time. I was actually more focused on The Chad Mitchell Trio (because of our mutual roots in Spokane, I suppose) and The Limeliters (I saw them perform live many times during the early '60's.) So I came into The Trio with no ambitions other than to do the best job I could within the context of the format. Having just spent the past 15 years as a member of The Brothers Four, I was more intent on switching gears musically. I really felt no compulsion other than to express my own personality on stage. I guess the thing that changed that was when Bob Shane decided that we would only perform songs that had been previously recorded by The Trio, primarily during the 1957 - 1967 era. Obviously there were a few exceptions to that (my saw presentation, "Rollin' River" and "All Of The Hard Days Are Gone" for example). But as things evolved in the group during 2000 - 2001, I began to really study Nick's parts, both vocally and instrumentally. Again, this was not with the intent of becoming a Nick clone, but more with an eye toward recreating, as closely as possible, the original arrangements and sound. I think we all felt that the time was right for that. Bob had shed the extra back-up musicians and it was down to what the three of us (+1) could do to present a full sound on stage. In analyzing the original recordings it's easy to hear that there was plenty of interesting stuff going on, despite the lack of musical training of Nick and Bob. Dave, of course, was leading the charge to be innovative, but everything had to be within the confines of Bob's and Nick's abilities, and because of their natural talents, it all worked. The main thing I was getting in my studies of Nick, though, was energy, and that's what drove my later approach to my role in The Trio. To Dave's disappointment, the group was never really about stellar musicianship (although there certainly are some stellar performances by the group because of their innate abilities to perform as a unit) but more about entertainment. And to this day I draw that distinction. I think you can win most any audience with a high energy performance that may not be musically flawless. Of course, there are plenty of performers who put their art above all else, and their fans hang on every note. But in general, I tend to favor the Bob Shane "make 'em feel good" approach. As far as Nick's harmonies go, I never perceived anything particularly unique about them. Nothing on the order of Art Garfunkle, for sure. Nick pretty much stuck to the standard 3rd above the melody stuff, but it was the blend of all three guys that made it work. Bob had the most unique voice - breathy and confident. Dave's parts were the most innovative, as he was always searching for that illusive harmony to fill out the chord. So, as far as recreating Nick's notes, that wasn't all that difficult most of the time. After Bob retired, we never really discussed the approach we would take generally with the group. We would work out arrangements and discuss aspects of each song, but Bill would often be oblivious to any concept of sticking to the original. There were a a couple of songs, in fact, where he insisted on doing arrangements that he remembered from other groups or from his own interpretations of the songs. I can't name an example off the top of my head, but I remember George and I reluctantly bowing to his demands in a couple of instances. The audiences, for the most part, miss those nuances anyway. In fact, Bob Shane had evolved many of the original arrangements over the years to suit his own changing tastes - which is what an artist should do. ("Tom Dooley" and "Early Mornin' Rain" are prime examples of that.) But I personally felt a responsibility to try to stick to Nick's style and parts as much as possible and most importantly, to bring his sort of impish energy to the stage. Instrumentally, we were a little flexible with the format initially. I played Bob Shanes' plectrum banjo parts of songs like "New York Gals" and "Worried Man", and I played Dave's banjo part (or a facsimile of it) on "To Morrow." I haven't seen the current configuration the group (and don't plan to!) so I have no comment on their approach. I know that I've heard from several folks who have seen the show and have had comments similar to yours. Rick is a fabulous singer, but I've always known him as a true tenor, which Nick was not. (Nor am I.) Bottom line in my uninformed evaluation the group today is that it has truly become a tribute to The Kingston Trio. Now, one comment that I can make from personal observation (and please understand - this is just MY opinion) is that Bill Zorn should not sing "Scotch & Soda"! He comes nowhere near Bob Shane's sultry take on that song. Right after Shane retired, we did that song with all three of us singing, but really leading the audience in a sing-along. I thought that worked pretty well and we presented it as a tribute to the recently departed Shane. George did it as a solo a few times and I really thought he did a much better job on it than Bill does. But then, that's just Howdy Doody talking. (Inside joke.) And as a response to your comment about Rick and Bill being more "Limeliters guys than KT guys", Meri and I still have fun referring to the new group as "The Kingliters" or "The Limeston Trio." Tee-hee! Or maybe I should say "LOL". (I just learned that one.)
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