Mary Travers ‘Magnificent’ In SPAC Performance

by Bill Rice, The Troy Record, August 2, 1972

You can learn a lot about a performer after a concert is over at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. There are some who insist on being rushed away before the final notes of their concert have stopped resounding, ignoring both the press and public. Others will meet with one group or the other, but not both.

One of the warmest stars to appear in the past two seasons is Mary Travers, who was gracious and sincere in dealing with both groups. At the conclusion of her Monday evening concert, the tall and lanky beauty met first with a handful of press and then strolled out on the backstage platform to greet those waiting for autographs.

She sat on the edge of the loading platform and a group of teenage fans gathered around her feet. One asked, awkwardly, what the words of one of her songs, “Conscientious Objector,” meant.

Patient Explanation

Miss Travers patiently explained the meaning of the song, based on a poem written in 1934 by Edna St. Vincent Milay.

“Well, the words say I shall die, but that is all I shall do for death,” she explained. “Now that means….”

Actually Mary Travers does much better explaining her songs informally than on stage. In fact, the only part of her program we felt could be improved on was in between songs where she often spends too much time pursuing her many causes.

But her musical presentation was magnificent in every way. The former member of the Peler Paul and Mary trio had no first half entertainment which we always find refreshing. She was the whole show and used no gimmicks to help it along—just plain singing.

“Soaring, Opulent”

Snapping her thin body and whipping her long golden hair around her bony but beautiful face, at times dipping down and shaking her shoulders, Miss Travers projected a soaring, opulent voice that was certainly intended for more than coffee houses.

If any one element is found in all Mary Travers songs it is a strong feel for the basic beat. She feels it when singing and it moves her when only her four back-up musicians are playing and this feel is there in ballads as well as up-tempo songs.

The willowy singer seemed to have picked up considerable confidence since her appearance at SPAC a year ago, which was not long after the famous trio broke up.

She admitted after Monday’s concert that it had taken her some time to get used to being a solo performer.

White not a Jane Fonda by any means, Mary Travers does have some definite thoughts about things like the war in Vietnam, the plight of the American Indian and women’s lib. While we don’t necessarily disagree with the sentiment, we don’t really care much about singers opinions on such things.

Some of the songs highlighting the evening, and taking Miss Travers through a wide range of moods, were, “Too Much of Nuthin’,” by Bob Dylan; “Indian Sunset” by Elton John and Bernie Taupln, “Sometimes l Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”

The audience numbered around 3,000, far too small for such a fine concert.