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Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey Honor Mary Travers

Counting Crows, Alison Krauss and a tribute to the late Mary Travers by her former bandmates were some of the many highlights from Wednesday's Feel Free concert in New York's Central Park. The show was held as part of National Parks Week NYC, a celebration of the parks system.

The free outdoor concert also coincided with the upcoming six-part Ken Burns documentary 'The National Parks: America's Best Idea,' scheduled to air on PBS on Sept. 27. Clips from the documentary were shown on a large video screen onstage at the park's East Meadow throughout the concert. Filmmaker Burns, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other invited guests gave remarks about the parks system.

Accompanied by the band Augustana, Counting Crows were the first musical act of the evening. In total, the Crows played five tunes that included a cover of Van Morrison's 'Caravan,' and 'Omaha' and 'Rain King' from their debut album 'August and Everything After.' Actress-singer Emmy Rossum also joined Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz on a duet for 'Going Back to Georgia.'

Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas followed next with the very spiritual 'A Living Prayer.' Later, Gavin DeGraw came on stage and injected some jazzy soul with 'Chariot,' and legendary singer-songwriter Carole King got a standing ovation following a performance of her classic song 'You've Got a Friend.' Some patriotic highlights included singer Jose Feliciano performing a soulful interpretation of 'America the Beautiful' that highlighted his distinctive guitar playing and soul music artist Eric Benet following with 'The Heart of America.'

Perhaps the most moving part of the evening occurred near the end of the show when folk singers Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey, two-thirds of Peter, Paul and Mary, came onstage. The two paid tribute to their friend, singer Mary Travers, who died last week at age 72. "She is with us tonight," said Yarrow of Travers.

And referencing to the group's appearance at the March on Washington in 1963, Stookey remarked, "Mary said those people had high hopes that were so palpable. We can feel it here tonight." Then Yarrow and Stookey ended the event with Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land' and were later joined by many of the previous musical acts for the sing-along.

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~BeCkY~

Mary Travers didn't die last week wasn't it last year?

August 09 2011 at 7:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
~BeCkY~

Mary Travers didn't die last week .. wasn't it last year ?

August 09 2011 at 6:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
RonTruth

The magic of Peter, Paul and Mary was, and still is that when they united their individual musical talents into a collective whole, one felt somehow included in the powerful musical and lyrical expression. You felt transcendant in a deeply spiritual way. When you came back down, you realized that you were taking with you from the concert a new, sometimes renewed sense of worth and commitment to personal ideals.

There was a sense of energy that I felt that led me to participate by calling to radio and TV shows to advocate for truth about historical events of the past, and to defend social causes that I felt were championed by P, P & M. Great group. Keep it going, Peter and Noel Paul.

March 13 2010 at 10:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply