Musical Artist - Peter, Paul, and Mary

Back in the 1960s when folk musicians wore suits and ties, a goatee was rebellious, and you could earnestly sing songs about peace, love, and justice, there were no folk acts that loomed larger across the musical landscape than the group Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Comprised of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stooky, and Mary Travers, the trio's music helped define a generation with their recordings of songs like If I Had a Hammer, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Blowin' in the Wind, Puff the Magic Dragon, 500 Miles, and Leavin' on a Jet Plane. Except for an interlude between 1970 and 1978 (in which they reunited a couple of times for concerts), the group was together from 1961 until Mary Travers' death in 2009. Peter and Paul still tour together.

Peter, Paul, and Mary are closely associated with the protest movement of the 1960s, a fact made plain by their selections of several Bob Dylan songs to record, their support for activists such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and support for politicians such as Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern. despite this, their cultural relevance has become so pervasive that people of all political stripes want to be associated with them, as evidenced by the hatefully bigoted National Organization for Marriage's use of their recording of This Land Is Your Land at their rallies. Well, they did before Peter and Paul wrote them a letter demanding that they stop, because Peter and Paul and not bigoted assholes like the members of the National Organization for Marriage.

As noted before, Peter Yarrow and Paul Stooky continue to tour and perform together. The group has a website named Peter, Paul, and Mary, as well as a Facebook fan page.

Musical Monday Selections:

09/02/13: Puff the Magic Dragon

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