Peter, Paul & MARY

One of my earliest musical influences. Another page turns in Rock history.

Mary Travers, whose ringing, earnest vocals with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary made songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” enduring anthems of the 1960s protest movement, died Wednesday night in Danbury Hospital in Connecticut. She was 72 and had lived in Redding, Conn.

The cause was cancer, said her spokeswoman, Heather Lylis.

Ms. Travers brought a powerful voice and an unfeigned urgency to music that resonated with mainstream listeners. With her straight blond hair and willowy figure and two bearded guitar players by her side, she looked exactly like what she was, a Greenwich Villager straight from the clubs and the coffee houses that nourished the folk-music revival.

“She was obviously the sex appeal of that group, and that group was the sex appeal of the movement,” said Elijah Wald, a folk-blues musician and a historian of popular music.

4 Responses to “Peter, Paul & MARY”

  1. “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” They are going away faster and faster each year.

  2. J.J., the answer my friend is “Blowin’ In The Wind” puffed the Magic Dragon.

  3. Sunn, I hope that’s not one of your predictions of near future passings…. Mr. Robert Zimmerman (Dylan) didn’t look too healthy the last time I saw him live, and, that was in the mid-90’s!….. His performance sucked – of which, I have proof, as we recorded the concert on a small cassette stereo recorder….. Let’s all keep our eyes focused along the watchtower, just in case….

  4. Who’ll Be The Next In Line? (Ray Davies & the Kinks).
    Only the Shadow knows. Not Sunn (although he is a distant relative).

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