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History of the Trio

    The Foothills Trio hails from the Saratoga/Mohawk Valley region of New York State and is a folk/Irish/maritime music group in the tradition of the Kingston Trio, the Clancy Brothers, and Schooner Fare.

    The Trio members are: Tim Keegan who plays lead guitar and banjo; Don Golden, the rhythm guitarist who occasionally picks up the bass; and Bill Engelhardt who does most of the bass guitar work, occasionally adding a second finger picking line to Tim's lead guitar.  All three members sing vocals with Don doing a large percentage of the lead singing.  The Trio's emphasis is on their unique and high energy vocal arrangements, especially their three part harmony.

    The Foothills Trio first performed in public on Dec. 20, 1986 at the Charlton Tavern in Charlton, NY.  The Trio was formed a few months earlier when Bill Engelhardt joined the duo of Don Golden and Tim Keegan.  This duo had been playing together since the Fall of 1981 when Don, sitting in the audience, accepted an invitation from Tim to join him for a few songs while Tim was playing a gig at the Charlton.  Bill's joining of the group was almost as impromptu, resulting from a conversation that he and Tim had over a few beers at Poor John's tavern in Burnt Hills, NY.  Bill had been a fan of Tim's and then Tim and Don's and had frequently heard them perform.  An off the cuff comment "If you guys ever decide to consider a  bass player...." resulted in the formation of the Trio.

    The FH3 performs at most of the establishments in and around the Albany/Saratoga region that feature folk and/or Irish music including The Coffee House at Burnt Hills, The Parting Glass and Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, Eamonns in Loudonville, Irish2000 and at other local folk festivals.  They have also appeared at Coleman's in Syracuse, The Oswego Harbor Fest., The Black Rock Castle in Bridgeport, CT, and McGrath's Irish Pub in Killington, VT.  They have opened/appeared on the same venue with several "big name" acts including Tommy Makem, The Wolftones, Barleycorn, Black 47, Stocktons Wing, The Whole Shabang, Gaelic Storm, and The McKrells.

    Tim Keegan, the "roots" of the FH3, is a native of Watertown New York.  He has always been very active in church choir singing, an activity that nurtured his talent for harmony arrangements that he utilizes so well in the trio.  He started his folk singing career doing the coffee house circuit in and around Rochester NY while a student at St. John Fischer College in the late 60's and early 70's.  In the summer of 1970, Tim toured New England with a New Christy Minstrels type group called The Young People.  The highlight of this tour was an invitation to play at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis port, MA.  Following graduation from college in 1972,  Tim spent the winter of 1972/73 playing as a solo performer in Killington, Vermont.  After moving to Schenectady, NY in the mid 70's, Tim started performing regularly during the winter season at the Charlton Tavern, setting up his chance meeting with Don in 1981.

    The "sex symbol" of the Trio and youngest member, Don Golden, started out as a "rock and roller" playing with a variety of bands while in High School in his home town of Ringwood, New Jersey.  He began the transition to folk music while attending Colorado State University in the late 70's where he and a friend formed an acoustic duo, mixing popular folk music with some original material.  Returning home to New Jersey, Don joined a trio that played everything from the Grateful Dead to bluegrass, and from country to the Rolling Stones.  Don's philosophy of being a part of a musical group is simple yet to the point. "It's always been fun for me to perform for a crowd and have them enjoy it.  To know that the audience is having a good time is a high for me.  Variety is important. I want to know that everyone in the crowd is satisfied, even if it's just by one tune."

    Don has released a solo album of primarily original material called "Dusty Toys".It joins his original single "Shalom-Salaam". Both recordings are available on CD and Cassette.

    The newest member of the group, Bill Engelhardt, provides the bottom end to the Trio's music both instrumentally and vocally.  Both Tim and Don say that Bill has to sing all the hard vocal lines because he gets what's left after Don sings the melody and Tim provides the high harmony.  While Tim provides the group with it's Irish roots, Bill adds the maritime background by being a native New Englander (hometown, New Canaan, Ct.), sailboat charter captain, and boasts of a great grandfather who was a Scandinavian sea captain.  Bill's formal training in music consisted of piano lessons and involvement in both school and church choirs.  He first became a "music fanatic" during the folk music craze of the early 60's during which time he taught himself to play guitar.  He succumbed to rock music after the British invasion and played in several rock bands during high school and then college at Clarkson Tech.in Potsdam NY during the middle and late 60's.  It was during this time that he taught himself to play the electric bass.  The highlight of his musical career in college was the opportunity to play for a year in a group with Steve Chapin, Harry's brother.  Bill's musical career was revived after 15 years by the chance meeting with Tim at Poor John's tavern.

    In addition to the FH3, and until their break-up earlier this Fall, Bill also performed with and handled some of the lead singing and bass guitar work for Skuttlebutt, a folk and acoustic group that specialized in traditional and popular Irish, folk, and maritime music.  (Click on the name to check out their web site).   The other members of the group were John Cromie on vocals and tin whistle, Jim Dunbar on vocals, mandolin, and guitar and Jim Lestrange on vocals, hammered dulcimer and guitar.  Yvonne Mahar, originally from Limerick City, Ireland, occasionally "sat in" on  lead vocals.   Skuttlebutt's first CD "Stand to your Glass" is now available!!  Click on the title for more information.

    Due to changing "real life" commitments and the Trio members finding themselves going in different directions musically, the FH3 decided to retire from performing together as a "full time/part time" musical act. They performed their "Farewell Concerts" to packed houses on April 30 & May 1, 1999 at the Saratoga Music Hall, Saratoga Springs, NY.  See the Special Events Page for info. and pictures from those concerts.

    After a year and a half apart in the pursuit of various individual endeavors, and after many requests from their loyal fans, the FH3 has performed five limited engagement "Reunion Tours" from the 2000/2001 thru the 2004/2005 seasons.  Due to the success of these tours, and the fun they had doing them, they are "at it again" for the 2005/2006 season.  See the Special Events and Schedule Pages for details.

    The Trio has several albums available on CD and Cassette.  Their first studio recording, "In Good Company", was released at Eamonn's Loudon House in Loudonville, NY on Nov. 19, 1994.  A second album, "Songs for a Winter Night", was released at the Saratoga Music Hall in Saratoga Springs, NY on November 22, 1997.  They also appear on "The Music from Torramh An Finnegan"; a live compilation album recorded in Summit, NY in Sept.,1997 along with other groups who performed at the festival.
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