I don’t remember when Roy, Jim and I started singing as a trio. We had always sung in the car on long trips (“Catch A Falling Star” by Perry Como, “The Wayward Wind” by Gogi Grant…..) but somewhere along the way Mom got us started singing together. Mom had always been musical – playing piano and ukulele, directing church choirs, playing the church organ – and we picked it up. We started singing in public before our voices changed and kept singing through puberty and onward. Mom’s advice about harmony: “Listen to the other guys; if you’re on the same note, go somewhere else.” Some of our early songs were “Oh Baby Mine,” “Hey, Joe,” and “I’ve Got A Lot Of Livin’ To Do.” I sang in the junior choirs in church; my first solo was in 2nd grade and I sang the 4th verse of “We Three Kings” – Myrrh is mine, it’s bitter perfume…..
I must have taken accordion lessons because I have a picture of me with an accordion in front of our house in Seattle, and I played it at church at least once, but I must not have been very good because I stopped. My other effort at playing a band instrument was in high school when the band director needed someone to play an oboe and he gave me one to learn over the summer. That is not the best instrument for a beginner and I never got more out of it than a squeak and cheeks that hurt.