Mitchell Trio surviving members set for book signing

(Photo/Spotify.com)

The announcement of a book-signing event on Saturday at Auntie’s Bookstore begins with a dubious claim.

“Of all the groups to emerge during the folk era of the 1960’s,” the announcement reads, “ The Chad Mitchell Trio was unequivocally the best.”

“Unequivocally the best”? That’s opinion, certainly. Fans of The Kingston Trio or Peter, Paul and Mary might have grounds to argue the point.

Still, the announcement does point out that the group, which exhibited “complex harmonies, sense of comedic timing and stage presence (that) were unique to the folk movement,” didn’t achieve the “commercial success” of the era’s other groups.

And why? “(B)ecause their material made political and social statements that radio and television refused to air.”

Well, that much may be true. The trio was definitely talented, and the three of them – both the original members and those who came later (including John Denver ) – did tend to make political statements.

At any rate, the whole story of the group is documented by Mike Murphey, a former staff writer at The Spokesman-Review, in his book “We Never Knew Just What It Was: The Story of the Chad Mitchell Trio.” To read an interview with Murphey, click here.

Murphey will appear along with surviving group members Mitchell and Mike Kobluk at the signing, which will take place from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday at Auntie’s.

If you’re too young to know just how skilled the trio was, much less political, click on the embed below. And then sit back to enjoy the music.