RIP: Mary Travers

Mary Travers--the blond, clear-voiced Greenwich Villager in Peter, Paul and Mary--died today in Connecticut. She was 72.

From the New York Times:

The group’s interpretations of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” translated his raw vocal style into a smooth, more commercially acceptable sound. They also scored big hits with pleasing songs like the whimsical “Puff the Magic Dragon” and John Denver’s plaintive “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”

Their sound may have been commercial and safe, but early on, their politics were somewhat risky for a group courting a mass audience. Like Mr. Yarrow and Mr. Stookey, Ms. Travers was outspoken in her support for the civil rights and antiwar movements, in sharp contrast to clean-cut folk groups like the Kingston Trio, which avoided making political statements.

“There was a real possibility that we would lose the entire Southern market over the issue,” Ms. Travers told Robbie Woliver, the author of “Hoot!: A Twenty-Five Year History of the Greenwich Village Music Scene,” an oral history. “But we felt that the issue was more important than the Southern market.”

“They made folk music not just palatable but accessible to a mass audience,” David Hajdu, the author of “Positively Fourth Street,” a book about Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and their circle, said in an interview. Ms. Travers, he added, was critical to the group’s image, which had a lot to do with their appeal. “She had a kind of sexual confidence combined with intelligence, edginess and social consciousness — a potent combination,” he said. “If you look at clips of their performances, the camera fixates on her. The act was all about Mary.”