The enormous success of Peter, Paul and Mary’s self-titled 1962 debut record brought folk music-and with it a dose of liberal politics-out of the coffeehouses to mainstream audiences. Except for some time off in the 1970s, the trio has been together ever since, harmonizing on songs and lending their support to a variety of social causes. In keeping with that latter commitment, Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers have just released “Songs of Conscience and Concern,” a compilation of politically oriented material they’ve recorded over the past four decades. They perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave. Tickets are $20 to $45. 312-294-3000 or 800-223-7114.
Q. What made you decide to put together a collection of politically themed songs?
A. There were a bunch of songs on the older albums that weren’t hits, they were just songs that addressed personal, ethical and political problems. A lot of young people out there want to know what the ’60s were about. This is what our ’60s were about.
Q. There’s a beautiful new song on the record, “Don’t Laugh At Me,” that champions respect for people that are different from the norm. How did it come to be part of the record?
A. Peter’s daughter heard it at the Kerrville Folk Festival, and she brought it us, and it knocked our socks off. There are three songs on the record, “Danny’s Downs,” “Don’t Laugh at Me,” and “Home is Where the Heart Is,” which all deal with very personal kinds of ethics. They’re really about respect, which is terribly important.
Q. Ever since the civil rights and anti-war movements in the ’60s, you’ve been involved in political causes. What issues are important to you today?
A. Health care, saving social security. Education is terribly important, and I think we’re dropping the ball. Dealing in a progressive way with immigration. There’s always the question of racial equality and human rights. I think it’s time to have another March on Washington, not just with white people or black people or Hispanics, but all of us.
Q. The songs gain a lot of their power from the way the three of you harmonize. What makes your singing so stirring?
A. I don’t know. I know that we sing with love. When we’re singing, I sing almost to an idealized version of the two of them, and when they sing to me, they’re singing to this idealized person as well, and we end up with something that’s much better than we could have done with anyone else.
Q. Peter, Paul and Mary have been together almost 40 years. Thinking over your career, what sort of a legacy do you think you’ll leave?
A. Our legacy is all those children who know how to sing “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “If I Had a Hammer,” and “Blowing in the Wind.” The legacy is there’s enough material now that 50 years from now, someone will discover us, and through us will go back and discover songs that were collected by Alan Lomax, Pete Seeger, Francis James Child. We’ll be a doorway to the past. That’s what a good legacy is.
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