There was a time, some years before the ascendance of rock 'n roll on Top 40 radio, when popular music veered sharply from the mainstream to sample American roots-music traditions. Inspired by the songs of Pete Seeger and The Weavers, this "folk" music found its greatest expression during the early 1960s in the songs of an emerging Greenwich Village folk group known as Peter, Paul and Mary.

In the Trio's new PBS show, Carry It On, they recall, along with mentors Pete Seeger and Ronnie Gilbert and others, the beginnings of the cultural revolution of the 1960s, when music became a unifying force amidst the hopeful, idealistic, and sometimes turbulent movements of social change.

The trio's Carry It On: A Musical Legacy features rare archival performances of songs which energized the spirit of the nation's cultural and political renaissance. They include "Blowin' In The Wind" from the 1963 March On Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his legendary "I Have a Dream" speech, and "The Times They Are A'Changin'" sung at the Newport Folk Festival. These and other historic moments are woven together with songs and clips from the Trio's four highly acclaimed PBS specials as well as intimate rehearsal renditions of new songs from their new album, In These Times, the Trio's first such release in a decade.

Do Peter, Paul and Mary still carry it on? No question! Just watch and listen.

When we first sat down to sing...
there was magic in the air. Each time we switched leads, our voices came to life with new and wonderful textures and coloration... We called Albert Grossman, Peter's manager at the time. Breathlessly we told him, "This is it."

50 Years with Peter Paul and Mary examines the era of the group's emergence in Greenwich Village... through the Civil rights and Anti-War years where their anthems contributed to America's soundtrack of social and political change...and into the 21st century where their legacy and music continues to inform, inspire and enrich successive generations. This DVD, produced and directed by four-time Emmy award winner Jim Brown, contains memorable performances interwoven with voice-over insights provided by Peter yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and the late Mary Travers culled from hundreds of hours of radio and television interviews in an 80 minute performance-based documentary that celebrated the impact of this preeminent trio that inspired America though its music and its advocates.

We sang to the audience, of course but, just as frequently on stage, we sang to each other. Each night, songs varied in their nuanced meanings and the way they were delivered. Each concert was a series of improvisational surprises. we could sense the audience enthusiastically joining us in these explorations...

Providing a first-ever, far more intimate and comprehensive look at Peter Paul and Mary than former PBS specials that, wonderful though they were, only began when the group was in its 25th year, many of the rare, previously unseen early performances on this disc have never been televised in the United Sates. Rare BBC TV footage shows the group at the peak of their early artistry, in 1963, during their most popular and influential period when the trio dominated the charts (with all three of their first recordings simultaneously in the Top Ten of Best Selling Albums).

We had traveled incessantly for 10 years, and our 1969 schedule had been packed with more than 200 concerts in five countries, as well as the recording and promoting of two albums. Peter Paul and Mary had become a compacted bundle of overwhelming commitments that did not allow enough time and space to accommodate our work as members of the trio and our ives as individual artists with family responsibilities.

An impressive combimation of still photographs, new and rediscovered documentary videos capture Peter Paul and Mary during their 'time off for good behavior' (1970-1978), and following their reunion, for the nextthree decades as they perform 60 concerts a year around the world - inspiring audiences, recording new CD's, introducing new singer-songwriters - continuing to advocate for justice, equality and peace.

We wanted to sing songs of substance. we always felt that our actions had to have worth to be worth doing. we wanted to work together enough to have it be a meaningful part f our lives, but not so much that it wouldn't be fun. The new schedule was much more balanced, allowing us to concertize and make records, while also giving us time to pursue personal projects and spend essential and much needed time with our families.

During the last few years of the group's career, Mary became increasingly challenged by illnesses, and on September 16th, 2009 she passed away. we are honored to share on this DVD the exclusive video of her moving and inspiring memorial service featuring among the speakers and performers, Bill Moyers, former Senator George McGovern, and Whoopi Goldberg. Former Senator and current Secretary of State John Kerry noted at the occasion, "If Mary were here, she would say 'This crowd looks like a reunion of Nixon's enemy list!'"

Perhaps it's not the number of events but rather the quality of the moments we share that are truly remembered. and, maybe the most meaningful message we leave behind id ultimately not the specifics of the cause, the date of the rally, or the number of people in attendance. Maybe it's about recognizing the spirit of goodness in us all... the caring for the least of us... and the work that is -  as Mary was wont to say -'to be continued...'