In this July 20, 2014, file photo, singer-songwriter Peter Yarrow, of the 1960’s era musical trio “Peter Paul and Mary,” claps and encourages the audience to sing along during a memorial tribute concert for folk icon and civil rights activist Pete Seeger at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park in New York. AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File
Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary) plans to take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, at Chocolate Church Performing Arts, 804 Washington St. in Bath
Known for his songwriting, sound quality, and commitment to excellence, Yarrow, along with Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers, made up the popular folk group Peter, Paul & Mary. The trio produced such standard ’60s hits as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “If I Had a Hammer” and “Puff the Magic Dragon”; much of their music centered around the social issues and concerns of the times, including war, homelessness, the environment, world hunger, apartheid, and the Sanctuary Movement.
In the decades prior to the ‘60s, through the work of such avatars as Woody Guthrie, the Weavers, and Pete Seeger, folk music had become identified with sociopolitical commentary, but the idiom had been forced underground in the Sen. Joe McCarthy witch-hunting era of the late ‘50s.
By the time Peter, Paul, and Mary arrived on the scene, for the majority of America, folk was viewed merely as a sidebar to pop music which employed acoustic instruments. At this critical historic juncture, with the nation still recovering from the McCarthy era, the Civil Rights Movement taking shape, the Cold War heating up and a nascent spirit of activism in the air, few at the time could have realized how fervently and pervasively the group’s message of humanity, hope, and activism would be embraced.
Tickets cost $38.
For tickets or more information visit chocolatechurcharts.org.
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