Peter and Paul appear at Rialto

Peter and Paul appear at Rialto

by Denise Crosby, napervillesun.suntimes.com
May 12th 2011

By Randall G. Mielke For Sun-Times Media 12:26PM



The legendary folk music trio of Peter, Paul and Mary first appeared on stage together at Greenwich Village’s The Bitter End night club in 1961. Since that time, the group of Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers has recorded and performed such hits as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” “If I Had A Hammer,” “Lemon Tree” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.” The trio’s career spanned 48 years, until Mary Travers died in 2009.

But despite the trio’s loss, the music endures, according to Peter Yarrow.

“It is not the same thing without Mary,” he said, “but the message is the music and that carries on.”

Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary will perform on May 21 at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet.

“Initially, we were both diffident about it,” said Yarrow about he and Stookey performing together without Travers. “But what happens is that the audience sees us and, at first, it seems odd until they have adjusted to it. Shortly after, they’re lovin’ it. The music has the same thrust, the same impetus, the same heart. It sounds different, but it has its own character and its own value. We have created something different with the two of us.”

Peter, Paul and Mary have won five Grammy’s, produced 13 Top-40 hits, have eight gold albums and five platinum albums. But for them, the music also was about making a statement. In 1969, for example, the trio sang before the half-million people who had come together for the March on Washington, a peaceful anti-war demonstration against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C. Yarrow believes that the songs the group performed over the years and the trio’s commitment to causes is part of the reason for the group’s longevity.

“We have a sense of passion and purpose,” he said. “We were living in a time when what we were singing about was powerful medicine for a country going through changes. Music does reflect and energize the efforts of social change.”

In 1970, the group disbanded to pursue individual interests. The trio reunited in 1978. At an anti-nuclear benefit at the Hollywood Bowl that he had organized, Yarrow asked Stookey and Travers to join him on stage.

After that impromptu appearance, they would perform together off and on over the years until Travers’ death in 2009.

One thing that has changed with Yarrow and Stookey since Travers’ passing is that the show is less planned.

“It is a lot more informal than it was with Mary,” Yarrow said. “There was a limit to the improvisation and silliness that we did together. She felt more comfortable with a structured show.

“We continue to surprise each other,” Yarrow continued. “Noel has new material that he will do, but for me it is the relationship. He and I had infrequent times together. Of course there is reminiscing. We pay tribute to Mary. She is there in our minds.”

And she is there in the hearts and thoughts of her fans.

“The audience always wants to hear ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane,’” Yarrow said, “and we ask the audience to sing Mary’s part.”



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