Crossings brings Peter Yarrow of the legendary folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary to Zumbrota's State Theatre on Saturday, October 27, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $35 in advance and $38 the day of the show. Doors open at 6:30. To purchase tickets call Crossings at 507-732-7616.
Peter Yarrow is a singer and songwriter whose social commentary has always been a part of his music and his life. He also has a special connection to Minnesota. In 1969 he married Mary Beth McCarthy in her hometown of Willmar. He wrote "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" as a gift to his bride and performed it for the first time at their wedding in St Mary's Catholic Church.
He co-wrote one of Peter, Paul & Mary’s most famous songs, “Puff, the Magic Dragon.”His songwriting also worked its magic with “Day is Done,” “Light One Candle,” and “The Great Mandala.” The trio earned a 1996 Emmy nomination for the Great Performances special “LifeLines Live,” a highly acclaimed celebration of folk music.
Music was part of Yarrow’s upbringing; he graduated from what was then called the High School of Music and Art in New York City. He graduated from Cornell University in 1959 and met Noel “Paul” Stookey and Mary Travers in New York City's Greenwich Village at a time when American folk music was experiencing a revival.
The trio’s first album, “Peter, Paul & Mary,” was released in 1962 and remained in the Top Ten for 10 months and in the Top Twenty for two years. More than two million copies sold.
Also a political activist, Yarrow has voiced his opposition to the Vietnam War, sought to instill character training in public education, and founded Operation Respect with a mission to “assure each child and youth a respectful, safe and compassionate climate of learning where their academic, social and emotional development can take place free of bullying, ridicule and violence.”
Yarrow has turned his attention to encouraging folk music and musicians through a key role in founding the New Folks Concert series at both the Newport Folk Festival and the Kerrville Folk Festival.