My story is a little long-winded, so I've decided to post it in segments, this being Part 1. Tune in tomorrow for the next installment. This is my story, and I'm stickin' to it:
I’ve been a Kingston Trio fan since the first time I heard “Tom Dooley” on the radio. As a fledgling 11-year-old plectrum banjo player, I managed to figure out all two chords of that seminal recording and probably drove my family nuts playing and trying to sing it in my pre-pubescent voice. Eventually my career path led me to a gig with The Brothers Four, replacing Mark Pearson, who had replaced Mike Kirkland. And then one day, out of the blue, I got a call from Bob Shane.
Now, the Brothers Four gig was by no means small potatoes and it was a highlight of my life to be accepted for that position. But in my opinion, The Kingston Trio has always occupied the top seat in the folk music genre. So I didn’t hesitate to say “yes” to Bob’s request that I pinch-hit for a hospitalized Roger Gambill in 1985. And then, what an honor it was to be invited to become an official member of the group upon Roger’s passing. Three years later, when Nick Reynolds decided to come out of retirement, I happily sat back down in the dug-out, only to be called out occasionally over the next ten years to pinch-hit for Nick. And there I was waiting in the wings when Nick was ready to retire for good in 1998. Through all these ins and outs I was always humbled by being the person that Bob Shane called upon to help maintain the continuity of the KT.
Like so many fans, I was surprised in the summer of 2017, to hear about the licensing of the Kingston Trio name and brand to Josh Reynolds and Mike Marvin. And then I was not only surprised, but appalled to hear about all the legal wrangling that subsequently transpired. I’ve always considered Josh to be family - well, he literally is - and I just couldn’t comprehend why he would bring all that hard-ball litigation down on Bob Shane. I had never heard of Mike Marvin at that point, and I had no idea how or why he was involved as a signatory to the licensing contract. I believed Josh to be the connection, the contact point and the reason for this deal.
I sorta followed all this drama through on-line friends. Then one day I discovered that the Kingston Trio website, which had been so masterfully constructed, expanded and maintained by Bobbie over the years, was now in Josh’s hands. Checking the schedule page I noted that their first two gigs as the re-formed Kingston Trio were here in Oregon in September of 2017. So I called Josh and he was kind enough to offer us (Meri, John Hollis and me) comp tickets to their evening show in Redmond.
I had seen a couple videos of The Lion Sons on youtube and was not particularly impressed. That night in Redmond I had a similar response, although after sitting through an entire two-hour performance I had even more reason to be unimpressed. Our seats were in the front row, stage right. From that vantage point we only had a view of Tim Gorelangton’s butt, except for a couple songs when Josh or Mike took the stage right position. I felt that the single mic sound reinforcement was ineffective, as the vocal and instrumental mix was inconsistent and weak. We noted that Tim’s banjo was often out of tune, despite the fact that he was continually tuning it between songs. The rhythms were often sloppy, primarily due to Mike’s apparent inability to stay on tempo. Nick’s signature harmonies were missing from many of the songs and the stage patter was amateurish, mostly focusing on Josh’s relationship with his dad.
After such a lackluster performance we were surprised to see the audience give the show a standing ovation. I can only attribute that to Josh’s continued “I’m the son of Nick Reynolds” narrative and the nostalgic appeal of the songs that the audience came to hear. The fact that the demographic make-up of the audience was primarily octogenarian probably explained the positive response, although there were a number of John Stewart songs in the show that the Trio had never recorded and were not as enthusiastically received as the bona fide KT hits.
After the show we chatted with Josh, who graced us with a splash on our cheeks with a cloud of his dad’s ashes from the pouch around his neck. We briefly met Tim and Mike, and on the way home, discussing what we’d just experienced, we all agreed that Mike did not look well. He was sweating profusely and just had an aura of illness about him. My personal reaction to the evening was a combination of sadness and hope. Sadness that the iconic Kingston Trio was now in the hands of a band of musicians-come-lately. And hope that what we had just witnessed was merely the raw roots of a flower yet to blossom.
Check back tomorrow for Part 2.
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