The hugely successful folk group started in the 60s in Greenwich Village. Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey were her groupmates.
“They actually were the trailblazers when the great ‘folk scare’ of the 60s came along,” said Mick Montgomery, owner of Canal Street Tavern, said Wednesday night when asked for his reaction to the passing of Travers.
The group performed in the Miami Valley sometime in the 70s, he said.
They also performed at a benefit concert in 1995 at Memorial Hall for Greater Dayton Public Television.
Peter, Paul & Mary amassed five Grammys; their hits included Lemon Tree, Leaving on a Jet Plane, and Puff (the Magic Dragon). Three of their albums broke the top 10 of Billboard’s best-selling LPs in 1963.
Their opposition to the Vietnam War saw them performing at the March on Washington in 1963.
Montgomery, in his early 20s at the time, was there.
“It was amazing,” he said. “You really thought that the movement had arrived. It was the sexual revolution, the Civil Rights Movement, and the protest against the war. It was a major thing where everybody suddenly looked around and realized how much they had in common.”
Montgomery called Travers’ alto voice very strong.
He was saddened to hear about her death, but had fond memories of the once long-haired blonde whose look was copied.
“There was a definite style she had that really stood out,” Montgomery said. “A lot of girls started wearing their hair very straight and very long.”
Travers wasn’t a sex symbol in the way many people think of today, but there was no denying her appeal.
“In her way she was kind of sexy — the very short skirts and the leotards — but I don’t think that was ever the way anybody ever thought about Mary Travers,” Montgomery said.
“I think it would be best to characterize Peter, Paul & Mary general, and Mary in particular as very tasteful.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2374 or anwatson@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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