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Grafton – Apple Tree Arts presents “An Evening with Peter Yarrow” Saturday, Aug. 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the Great Hall, One Grafton Common.
Yarrow, along with Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers, was a member of the legendary folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, in the 1960s. Many of their hits such as “If I Had a Hammer,” “Blowin’ in The Wind” and “Puff, The Magic Dragon,” are iconic of that era.
From their early start in the eclectic music scene of Greenwich Village, they won five Grammy Awards, produced 13 top 40 hits and achieved eight gold and five platinum albums. In 1969, their cover of the single “Leaving On a Jet Plane” was a Top 40 hit with Yarrow singing lead vocals.
They toured for about 10 years and then pursued solo careers, but reunited for a concert to support the presidential campaign of George McGovern in 1972. They performed together at a concert to protest nuclear energy in 1978 and afterward continued touring often performing together 50 times a year until Mary Travers death in 2009.
Yarrow also wrote many other hits including “Day is Done,” “Light the Candle,” “The Great Mandala,” and “Torn Between Two Lovers,” a popular 70s hit for Mary MacGregor. He co-wrote the group’s top 10 hit “Puff, the Magic Dragon” with Leonard Lipton. He continues to tour as a solo performer sharing the folk and traditional music he reveres with audiences as well as a duo with Stookey and occasionally with other musicians.
Tickets for the Aug. 17 concert are $50 each and are available at https://tinyurl.com/y54yd4yd, at Apple Tree Arts’ offices or www.appletreearts.org
The event is the debut concert of the 2019-2020 Grafton Performing Arts Series to be staged in the intimate venue of the Great Hall. International folk artist Tom Rush returns to the Great Hall Friday Sept. 27 after his sold-out concert last year. An additional concert featuring a recording artist is planned for spring 2020.
Founded in 1989, Apple Tree Arts, a community school of the arts and a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organization has grown to serve over 1,500 children and adults annually with early childhood music classes, group keyboard lessons, private music and voice instruction, ensembles, theatre arts programs, community events and concerts. For more information, visit www.appletreearts.org.
