You really going to use your imagination for the autograph above. I can’t even make it out anymore. I am not even sure that this is the card with John Denver’s autograph, but I did get John Denver’s autograph, and this was the only card left in the safe. Anyway, here is the story:
Back in 1963-4, I was very much into Folk Music. I was a dedicated viewer of the Hootenanny show which broadcast recordings of folk music concerts from university concerts. I was in my 3rd year of high school, but I loved the banjos, guitars, and harmonies of those performances. One of of my favorite folk groups that often appeared on the show was the Chad Mitchell Trio. They often did humorous songs with social satire lyrics with wonderful harmonies.
Peter, Paul, and Mary where a huge part of the “Folk Music Revival” although they never did appear on the Hootenanny show. I did hear a lot of their music from albums that my friends shared. One of the songs that became a hit for them was “Leaving on a Jet Plane”. I was really taken by that song and in one of my folk music magazines, I learned it was written by someone named John Denver. I had never heard of him, but loved the song, and figured that someone who wrote it must be very talented. I kept his name in mind, hoping to someday hear more about him.
In 1965 Chad Mitchell the “leader” of the Chad Mitchell Trio, quit the Chad Mitchell Trio, hoping to go out on his own, musically. The remaining two members of the group renamed themselves the “Mitchell Trio and added a replacement for Chad Mitchell. The replacement was an unknown singer/songwriter named John Denver.
I think it must have been in 1966 that the Mitchell Trio came to my home town of Evansville, Indiana to do a concert at Robert’s Municipal Stadium. I don’t remember if I knew that John Denver had been made the replacement for Chad Mitchell, or whether I learned it when I went to the concert, but there he was, the writer of “Leaving on a Jet Plane” there on the stage, singing in the Mitchell Trio. He did sing “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, as part of the concert.
When their concert was over and the audience was leaving, I bravely walked backstage, and got to talk to John Denver. I told him how much the song “Leaving on a Jet Plane” meant to me, and that if I could create something like that, I thought I could die a happy man. He was very friendly and I got him to autograph the backside of a card I had in my wallet.
John Denver’s was the last of the precious autographs that I got. Don’t get the idea that I was constantly collecting the autographs of performers, because I was not. In my whole life I only got a handful of autographs, just from those artists whose music I had come to love. Now I find it very interesting that when I got those autographs and got to meet David Crosby, Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Chris Hillman, and John Denver, they were all unknown performers, just members of musical groups. It was only later in their musical careers, that they became famous and internationally known.
Below is a photo of the Mitchell Trio with John Denver. Here is a link if you want to see them sing a humorous song about the KKK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TcUA5jE6o
View my paintings at: davidmarchant2.ca
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