Although Peter, Paul & Mary are no more, their spirit and music is still uniting people and spurring many to think carefully about brotherhood. Don’t believe it? Consider Paul — Noel Paul Stookey — who will headline a local event that includes readings and music to benefit the Menare Foundation, a nonprofit organization that preserves the Historic Button Farm, Maryland’s only living history center depicting 19th century plantation life and is home to the Underground Railroad Immersion Experience.
| On stage |
| Noel Paul Stookey |
| When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday |
| Where: Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, 7600 Takoma Ave., Takoma Park |
| Details: $10 to $60; 240-567-5775 or go to tickets.com |
“We’ll read from a variety of disciplines, better known as world leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., and play a diversity of my songs … and will touch on issues of race and the larger issues before us, especially in the U.S., that is made up of so many with different beliefs and perspectives.”
When you consider Stookey’s career, you begin to understand how perfectly he and his music fit into the event. It was Peter, Paul & Mary who gave voice to the activism of the 1960s, singing their popular folk songs before hundreds of thousands when Dr. King marched on Washington in 1963. That moment in history is just one of many that define how music brought life to peaceful social activism and engaged audiences in thoughtful dialogues. That work, for which the trio received many awards and accolades, continued up until 2009 when Mary Travers died.
But while her death was devastating, her band mates have continued to share music – both that of Peter, Paul & Mary and their solo work – as a universal way to mend rifts.
“Many of us have a deep need for a connection on a spiritual basis and a reluctance to do so,” said Stookey. “In the course of doing so, I’ve just recently been approaching other artists to work with us.”
“The point is to have the music that has inspired and made a difference in ways of people’s thinking and acting,” said White. “No matter the song, it is the premise of bringing music to life. All you have to do is go from the point that we are basically all good to touch people’s hearts. We need to reinforce the positives.”
This year Stookey will release a new album that takes that mission even further.
“One flame many candles, one sky many stars, one sea many rivers, one love many hearts,” said Stookey. “That’s really what it is all about.”
