Thursday, September 17, 2009

Thursday Morning at the Cafe: Farewell



Mary Travers 1936-2009

6 comments:

Anam Cara said...

Oh, my gosh! We are getting real personal here. I first saw them live at Carter Baron in 1967. I have always adored her voice. It will be greatly missed.

Robbie said...

My parents raised me on three streams of music - Broadway show tunes, Johnny Cash (and Porter Wagner & Dolly Parton) amd Peter, Paul, and Mary. To this day, I never grow tired of listening to any of them. She will be missed, and fondly remembered!

Kevin said...

Another part of my childhood has died. My dad would take us to Wolf Trap to hear Peter, Paul & Mary. They were not music revolutionaries, but certainly musical ambassadors who could reach a wide range of people. May the Lord comfort those who will miss her the most.

Andy said...

Thanks Double B! Ya' know, their politics aside Peter, Paul and Mary were a fixture of my youth and they were masters of their craft. Mary was a gifted singer and she'll be missed.

Let the Hammer Ring!!

Anonymous said...

Very sad. thanks for posting the clip. Peter Yarrow sent a lovely e-mail to friends today. One of them forwarded it to me. Yarrow refers to Travers as "a giant of a person in spirit and heart."

Scout

Unknown said...

I too was raised on Peter, Paul & Mary. They were a fixture in my extended family and I saw that at Wolftrap when they were in town. Mary was quite funny - the sound they made as group was masterful. What you all may not know was that it was Dylan's manager who put them together. Al Grossman was quite an entrepreneur. He was the one who found Mary singing in Washington Park or somewhere in the Village and matched her up with Peter and Paul (in fact, he changed Paul's name too, as I recall).

Grossman then took Dylan's compositions and gave them to Peter, Paul, and Mary to sing and then just sliced the bread, taking percentages from each step of the way - from owning part of Dylan's catalogue (Dylan later sued him over it and their professional partnership ended badly), to taking percentages in the management of the acts (Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary, and even Janis Joplin), selling rights of the song from one act to the other and taking more slices of the bread, to performance fees and record deals. He had quite a little empire going until Dylan pulled out and Joplin died and folk faded.

But we still play Peter, Paul & Mary at our house!

bb