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\n\tRolling Stone\u2018s interview series Last Man Standing<\/a> features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and musicians who are the last remaining members of iconic bands. In some cases, they are the only classic-era member in the current touring lineup. In others, they are the only ones still alive. In either case, the task of keeping the torch lit has fallen onto their shoulders, whether they wanted that responsibility or not.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tNoel Stookey agreed to take Paul as his middle name in 1961 because \u201cPeter, Noel and Mary\u201d just didn\u2019t have much of a ring to it. There was also the biblical overtone to Peter, Paul and Mary<\/a>. But at the time, the folk trio was little more than a fun side project to Stookey, something to do when he wasn\u2019t playing solo shows or serving as the emcee at the Gaslight. He had no idea that Peter, Paul and Mary would become one of the most successful acts of the folk era or that people would still be calling him \u201cPaul\u201d 65 years later.<\/p>\n \u201cThe name is kind of a radar for me,\u201d Stookey tells Rolling Stone<\/em> via Zoom from his home in Maine. \u201cI know if people know me personally or know a friend of mine personally, if they say, \u2018Hey, Noel.\u2019 But if they say, \u2018Hey, Paul,\u2019 I know where they\u2019re coming from.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cHey, Paul\u201d people are likely thinking of Peter, Paul and Mary hits like \u201cPuff the Magic Dragon,\u201d \u201cLeaving on a Jet Plane,\u201d and \u201cWhere Have All the Flowers Gone,\u201d their performance in front of 250,000 people at the 1963 March on Washington, the pivotal role they played in popularizing Bob Dylan\u2019s songs, and the countless concerts they played until Mary Travers died in 2009.<\/p>\n Their success gave Stookey a literal front row seat to history. He was right behind Martin Luther King Jr. during the \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech at the Lincoln Memorial, and he sang \u201cBlowin\u2019 in the Wind\u201d with Dylan at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, with one arm around Joan Baez and the other around Travers. A couple years earlier, Stookey allowed a completely unknown Dylan to take the Gaslight stage, night after night, providing him with the platform that slowly launched his career.<\/p>\n All of this took place well over 60 years ago. And even though Stookey is just two years shy of his 90th birthday, he remains remarkably sharp, able to recall names, places, and events in vivid detail without even a second\u2019s hesitation. This recall became even more valuable to history after Peter Yarrow died, leaving Stookey as the last living member of Peter, Paul and Mary. (Yarrow, who was convicted of molesting a 14-year-old girl and later received a presidential pardon, died at 86<\/a> in 2025 from cancer.)<\/p>\n We spoke to Stookey about his history in the Village, the rise of Peter, Paul and Mary, the pain of losing Travers and Yarrow, his upcoming memoir, his recent solo work, and what he wants to still accomplish.<\/p>\n