Album Notes

The King’n Trio was formed in December of 2001 in Grand Junction, Colorado. The original four members were Grand Junction Rotarians who got together one evening to play and sing some of the Kingston Trio songs from yesteryear – and the rest, as they say, is history. Those original members were David Durham on guitar and vocals, Chris Unfug on guitar, mandolin and vocals, Ken Nydam on guitar, banjo and vocals and Pat Gormley on bass and vocals. Pat retired from the group in 2002 and was replaced by Merritt Kinsey. Ken Nydam moved to Massachusetts in 2003 and was replaced by Ron Koss. Ron retired from the group in the fall of 2006.The group took a break from that time until late spring of 2007, when Russ Williams was welcomed as the newest member.

Since its inception, the Trio has entertained numerous audiences with their enthusiastic, toe-tapping, sing-along music. They have performed three times at the historic Avalon Theatre in Grand Junction, and three times under the stars at the Grande River Vineyards in Palisade. They have also performed at Rotary functions all over the state of Colorado, including Boulder, Crested Butte, Montrose, Battlement Mesa, Durango and Denver. In addition they have performed for over 7,000 people at the 4th of July Spectacular at Stocker Stadium and for several thousand fans at the Colorado River State Park Amphitheater. In June of 2006, the Trio travelled to Chicago to play at several venues including one of the plenary sessions in front of some 25,000 Rotarians.

In May of 2007, the Trio travelled to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin to play for a Rotary District conference, and in June will be heading to Salt Lake City to be a part of the International Convention. Recently the Trio has accepted invitations to play for the Rotary District 5220 Conference in Sparks, NV in April of 2008, and to play for the Rotary International Convention in Los Angeles, CA in June of 2008.

The money raised by the Trio – nearly $140,000 to date – has been donated to the Rotary Foundation, the Avalon Theatre Restoration, The Grand Junction Rotary Foundation, Mesa County Partners and the Trio’s own project – “Old Music for Young Ears”. This project found the Trio doing an hour-long concert for a different area elementary school every month. The kids were treated to lively music, most of which was new to them, and enthusiastically sang and danced along with the Trio. When the concert was over, the school was given an instrument for use in its music department. Over the course of the project, the Trio performed in twenty schools for thousands of kids and gave away three gongs, one set of temple blocks and sixteen sets of conga drums!

With the help of the Grand Junction Rotary Club, the Trio has recorded four CD’s. Club members have purchased the CD’s and have underwritten the cost of production, allowing the Trio to immediately begin making charitable contributions with the CD sales proceeds. The first CD had mostly Kingston Trio standards with a Beatles tune and western tune thrown in for good measure. The second CD featured a broader range of music including several original songs by David Durham. Two more of David’s songs – “Eatin’ Lunch at the School Cafeteria” and the “Four Way Test” – appear on the third CD. The fourth CD – “Best of the King’n Trio” – is just what it says – the best of the previous CD’s with one original song from Chris Unfug, “Old Music for Young Ears”. The third and fourth CD’s are available for purchase through this website