Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Mary Travers, R. I. P.

The Associated Press: Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 72: "Mary Travers, one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, has died.

The band's publicist, Heather Lylis, says Travers died at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut on Wednesday. She was 72 and had battled leukemia for several years.

Travers joined forces with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey in the early 1960s.

The trio mingled their music with liberal politics, both onstage and off. Their version of 'If I Had a Hammer' became an anthem for racial equality. Other hits included 'Lemon Tree,' 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' and 'Puff (The Magic Dragon.)'
They were early champions of Bob Dylan and performed his 'Blowin' in the Wind' at the August 1963 March on Washington."

4 comments:

carl brookins said...

I am totally bummed out. Her early recordings with P&P are still among my favorites.

Seepy Benton said...

As a little kid in elementary school, I would lie awake at night in bed with my transistor radio in hand listening to the songs of Peter, Paul, and Mary. And then, about four decades later, one of the great joys of my life was to hear Peter, Paul, and Mary perform live at the Kerville Folk Festival. It was sheer magic!

said...

Did you ever view Mary, with P & P, singing "The Times They Are A-Changing"? It's at YouTube (Get the 60s version [black & white]) and she REALLY was puttin' all the feeling of person that REALLY believed things would get better and she is MOST spectacularly beautiful singing the number.

At moi's blog I have a parody of TTTAAC Dylan album

Dan said...

The crowd I ran with kind of looked down at PP&M for saccharinizing(?)the gritty, out-of-tune messages of Dylan, Segar and Ochs, but they had a charm for me that still lingers....