Mary Travers of 'Peter Paul and Mary' dead at 72

The voice of 60s popular folk, Mary Travers, has died of leukemia in Connecticut. One of the true giants of the folk and protest movement, Ms. Travers was one of the most highly respected singers in her genre.

Mary Travers. The name alone says a lot to music lovers. As part of Peter Paul and Mary, she brought the songs of Dylan, Seeger, Woody Guthrie and other American iconic songwriters to the world. As the face of folk music, beautiful Mary Travers was definitely the focal point of media response to a concept it didn’t understand too well in the early and mid 1960s. That media-induced superficial image masked a truly accomplished and gifted singer and performer. PP&M could turn almost anything into an anthem. A song like Puff the Magic Dragon, in the hands of almost anyone else, would have been “just a kid’s song”. They made it a hit, accepted as authentic folk/pop under the eyes of the ever critical folk scene. With her voice as an understated resonance, PP&M produced truly beautiful music, and the sort of clarity record producers of the time, stuck with songwriters trying to sing, could only dream about. Add to that Mary Travers’ unforgettable stage presence, and it’s no mystery why PP&M were so popular. Ms. Travers has the distinction of being one of the truly loved and admired people in global music during an era being saturated with pop hype and fashion fads. Of that generation of singers, only the real super talents of folk, like Judith Durham of the Seekers, Buffy Sainte Marie, and Joan Baez ever entered this league. Travers was the first truly popular female singer in her field, and she probably encouraged more women than anyone else to pick up guitars and sing than anyone else in the mid 60s. Some people remain young in the memory of the people who admired them and loved them. Listen to that voice, and remember.