TRAPPER CREEK BAND

Music and dancing have long been a part of the Priest Lake experience. In the early 1900’s at the Idaho Inn, across the street from the Leonard Paul Store, weekenders danced to music from a graphonola. After Leonard Paul built his new store, he held dances on the second floor for years. In the 60’s there were teen dances at the old Nordman School and later, Kaniksu Resort where the gator was introduced to the lake. Van’s Corner and Nordman had dancing in the 60’s and 70’s and more recently, who can forget Frizzie O’Leary’s (formerly Van’s Corner)?

In the early 80’s the Northern Hotel became Captain Eddy’s and nightlife returned to Coolin. And that’s about the time Mike Wagoner, John Phillips and John Stoll formed the band

Trapper Creek.

John and John had made their way to Priest Lake via the Forest Service and Mike had discovered working days as a dock boy and nights as a solo act in a tiny banquet room beat working harvest.

At Captain Eddy’s the heat of the action occurred on a covered deck. The rafters were exposed and there were people literally hanging from them (the “air gator”). It wasn’t long before the local citizenry drummed Trapper Creek out of Coolin, but by that time Bob and Sharon Davis had purchased Elkins Resort and they enlisted Trapper Creek as the house band. The bands stint was so successful that Bob and Sharon remodeled the Birch Room and rechristened it “Trapper Creek Bar.” It is a well-earned honor because the nights Trapper Creek played and sang at Elkins are legendary.

The band covered country rock bands and traditional tunes like Rocky Top, Fox on the Run, Rider in the Rain, and Mountain Railway. However they also wrote some of their own songs like Imagine, Give Me Some Room, Tulsa Summer, and Ode to a Lady, and Music. But whether a cover or an original, the three-part harmony was second to none and the music was so infectious even young hipsters (and some not so young) learned to swing dance.

“Now John Phillips.” has compiled some of the magic on this CD.

For those of you, who heard the band at Elkins, welcome back to yester year? For those of you who didn’t have the opportunity, you’d never believe what you missed.

• JimLUBY Post SOURCE