The Chad Mitchell Trio in Trail

The Chad Mitchell Trio, a popular 1950s and ‘60s folk group known for their satirical songs criticizing contemporary events, performed in Trail at least twice. One of their members, Mike Kobluk, is from Trail, something that formed part of the comedic introduction to a song on their album At the Bitter End, recorded live on March 19, 1962. You can hear it below or follow along the transcript.

Chad Mitchell: I think that it might be appropriate for us to introduce ourselves individually to you. My name is Chad Mitchell, and I’m from Spokane, Washington.

Joe Frazier: My name is Joe Frazier, and I’m from Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Lebanon is situated in one of the most fertile valleys in the east coast.

Mike Kobluk: My name is Mike Kobluk and I come from the great Canadian southwest. I come from a town called Trail, British Columbia. It’s noted for its lead-zinc smelter, which is world known. It’s the biggest in the world.

Frazier: Well, everybody knows that in Pennsylvania we have a great many steel mines and steel mills and things. Lebanon has one of the largest ones there. That’s my hometown.

Kobluk: Trail is not a one-industry town, though! Trail also is the centre for the Elephant brand fertilizer which is … No, this is true! No, really, this is true, though. They have a company there that makes nothing but Elephant brand fertilizer and it’s the biggest company of its kind in the whole world.

Frazier: Well, Lebanon, Pennsylvania is right near Hershey, Pennsylvania. You’ve all heard of that. That’s where they make all the chocolate. There are more candy bars made there than any other place in the whole country.

Kobluk: Trail is also noted because last year the Trail Smoke Eaters hockey team won the world hockey championships, over in Sweden.

Frazier: The amateur hockey championship.

Kobluk: The world hockey championship, over in Sweden.

Mitchell: I guess I forgot to mention that Spokane, Washington is the apple, cherry, and blue leaf cabbage centre of the United States.

But when were their Trail shows? Turns out they performed at the Trail Junior High School auditorium (now the Bailey Theatre) exactly one month before the Bitter End show, on Feb. 19, 1962.

Trail Daily Times, Feb. 16, 1962

The Trail Daily Times also revealed that prior to the show Kobluk became the first person presented with the key to the city. I don’t know if that honor was ever repeated, but it was distinct from the granting of the freedom of the city. (Kobluk was also inducted into the Trail Home of Champions monument, along with his brother Joe, a longtime radio announcer and manager.)

Trail Daily Times, Feb. 17, 1962

The packed auditorium enjoyed many of the trio’s famous songs including Mighty Day and Lizzie Borden.

Trail Daily Times, Feb. 20, 1962

The next day, the trio performed at Kobluk and Mitchell’s alma mater, Gonzaga University in Spokane. They received a very positive review in the Spokesman-Review from Ed Costello who noted they had “improved markedly” since their previous appearance two years earlier and were “stronger musically, they have more assurance, polish and when it comes to showmanship they have really ‘arrived.’”

But another two years later, Costello took a dimmer view, calling the trio’s show at the Spokane Coliseum “depressing” because he felt their songs were too political. The pan was notorious enough that when the trio reunited for a triumphant concert in Spokane in 2007, reviewer Jim Kershner noted: “That guy was dead wrong.”

What’s not widely known is that Costello had his own Trail connection: he was editor of the Times in the mid-to-late 1940s and might have run into a young Michael Kobluk, whose name was then showing up in the newspaper for his boxing, hockey playing, and piano playing.

Chad Mitchell left the group in 1965 to pursue a solo career. Kobluk and Frazier continued on with what was renamed the Mitchell Trio. To replace Chad Mitchell, a young singer was hired named Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. You know him better as John Denver.

Thanks to the digitization of the full run of the Trail newspapers, I discovered Denver performed with the Mitchell Trio in Trail on Dec. 18, 1967. A story and photo appeared the next day in the Times and quoted Denver discussing the group’s name.

John Denver, who makes his home in Chicago and has been with the group for three years, said “The only reason for picking the name Chad Mitchell was that when the group was formed they could not find a name they liked. So they decided to use one of the members’ names.”

The story said little about the performance except that it was before a packed house at the junior high school and was well received. Denver and Kobluk were joined on stage by new trio member Dave Boise, as well as banjo player Paul Prestopino and guitarist Bob Hefferman.

The big news that emerged from the concert was that Kobluk was leaving the trio, and this was his last show. So he went out on his home turf.

Michael Johnson subsequently replaced Kobluk in the group, which changed its name to Denver, Boise, and Johnson before disbanding in 1969.

Trail Daily Times, Dec. 19, 1967

When Kobluk was inducted into the Home of Champions monument in 1999, he told the crowd about Denver’s experience to Trail: “John was very excited to see where the Elephant brand fertilizer came from. And also to see the home of the Smoke Eaters. I took him to the arena and strapped a pair of skates on his feet.”

According to the terrific book We Never Knew Just What it Was: The Story of the Chad Mitchell Trio, decades after achieving world domination as a solo act, Denver was supposed to attend a Mitchell Trio reunion at Kobluk’s place in Christina Lake. But he couldn’t make it because he was busy filming a TV special. He promised to be at the next one. He didn’t get the chance. The following month he died in a plane crash.

One final bit of trivia: Mike Kobluk’s childhood home still stands at 1903 Second Avenue in East Trail (seen below). It ought to have a plaque on it.

Updated on Oct. 8, 2024 to add the anecdote about John Denver visiting Trail. Updated on July 24, 2026 to add the story of Denver’s performance in Trail.