Since the passing last week of Mary Travers, one third of Peter, Paul and Mary, I've been meaning to do some original posts, not just stuff I've ripped off from others and reposted on my blog. So, here goes.
Despite my growing up in a fairly conservative household, my Dad had somewhat eclectic musical tastes, and I was fortunate to have been exposed to many artists and musical styles. Folk was one of them. Dad's education in electrical engineering didn't hurt, either, as he always had a top-notch high fidelity sound system, that had usually been tweaked a bit here or there. In the early '60s, I heard a lot of The Kingston Trio, Harry Belafonte, The Limeliters, The Chad Mitchell Trio, The Brothers Four, and Peter, Paul and Mary.
The folk idiom at that time was such that many of the groups covered the same material, often from Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie, but as time went on, the Kingston Trio and PP&M were instrumental in bringing new songwriters' works, notably Bob Dylan, Donovan, Gordon Lightfoot, and John Denver (who replaced Chad Mitchell when the eponymous founder left the group), to the public's attention. Undoubtedly, I first experienced Dylan's work through other artists long before I heard the composer's versions of his songs, and to this day am convinced that Mr. Zimmerman was not necessarily the best interpreter of all of his works. Some, but not all.
As an aside, it still amazes me that Dylan, like Jackson Browne in the '70s, was able at such a young age to capture certain insights into the human condition.
In the early '70s, I nearly wore out an 8-track of Peter, Paul & Mary's
10 Years Together, along the way introducing my carpool mates (I was in junior high at the time) to the trio's music on the commute to and from school.
What appealed to me about the music was that it was at the same time simple yet complex. Usually a guitar or two, or a banjo, and a double bass, the musical textures were every bit as interesting as Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" treatments. PP&M and The Kingston Trio featured a sort of innocence and optimism that seemed to be missing from the musical scene in later decades. The '60s folk trios gave way to the '70s singer-songwriter genre: Joan Baez, Harry Chapin, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Tom Waits, Dan Fogelberg, etc. Today, I think folk music would probably be regarded as Indie.
Today, only Bob Shane remains of The Kingston Trio, and no longer performs in the group. There is still a touring group of The Limeliters, but Alex Hassilev and Glenn Yarbrough have long since retired. It's difficult to imagine Peter & Paul performing without Mary.
So, thank you Peter, Paul & Mary for the memories. And Godspeed Mary Travers.
My office colleague says never eat at a Chinese Food restaurant next to a veterinarian or dog grooming salon.
