Folk music legend Noel Paul Stookey, known worldwide as a member of Peter, Paul and Mary, and his daughter, poet A.S. Aubrey, are taking the stage Aug. 1 at the Camden Opera House for an evening of music, poetry, storytelling, and conversation.

It will be the second time on stage together to present this show, "Listening for the Notes: The Gift of Word and Song in Challenging Times." The first show was held last April in Ventura, California, at the Rubicon Theatre. That was the right location then: both father and daughter spend the winters on the California coast.

The upcoming August 1 show will be in Camden, on the Maine coast, which again makes sense because the Stookeys all gather in the summer at the homestead in Blue Hill, which has been in the family since 1974, and where Anna and her sisters grew up. A farm alive with family, animals and music.

For those who know the Stookeys are aware of their association with a long, rich musical legacy rooted in American folk, and the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s. Peter, Paul and Mary were a cornerstone of the folk cultural movement, and the lyrics to Blowin' in the Wind," "Puff the Magic Dragon," and "The Wedding Song" are familiar to generations.

In Maine, Noel Paul Stookey was integral to the founding of WERU FM radio, which began airing from the fabled Hen House in Blue Hill, before relocating to the station's current headquarters in Orland. Stookey and his wife, Betty, arrived in Maine in 1974 and bought a house, moving from the New York suburbs to the rugged Hancock County coast.

Aubrey, who is by profession a psychotherapist, is also a poet and publishing her first book of poetry in November, Hide & Seek: Poems for Being Found in a Lost World. Presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco said her new collection, "exemplifies what poetry does best." A news release from the Camden Opera House said, Hide & Seek explores themes of mortality, hope, purpose, and renewal through what Blanco describes as Aubrey's "rapturous lyricism."

The Aug. 1 show in Camden is an opportunity to blend their talents.

"Through humor, warmth, and heartfelt reflection, Stookey and Aubrey invite audiences to consider how listening—to one another, and to the world around us—can foster hope and deeper connection," the Opera House said.

"It harkens back to Greenwich Village in the early 1960s when poetry and folk music walked hand and hand through the taverns," said Stookey. "Underground and alternating, Wavy Gravy (Hugh Romney) or John Brent, poets of that era, and Len Chandler, would trade songs. The concept is not all that new. It has been really fun and invigorating to embrace it with my daughter."

For Aubrey, "Listening to Notes", came out of, "having a father who has created music my whole life, and being fascinated by where creativity comes from. When you are listening to a song or a poem, where is it actually coming from?"

She and her father were speaking over the phone from California, where a fresh sea breeze from the Pacific was cooling the hot dry air. They were looking forward to returning to Maine, to their family gathering, to a drive from Blue Hill to Camden to see old friends there.

Practicing psychotherapy for 22 years, Anna has also been writing poetry all her life, but more recently in earnest. She has become more preoccupied with understanding the genesis of the creative act, and "what does it mean to listen?"

"Where are these poems coming from," she asked. "When I thought about approaching Dad with this idea of blending our poetry and song, it was with this idea of considering the importance of listening, not only as a creative act but then thinking about, what does it mean in these times to listen? To listen to each other. To listen to what is needed in this world."

That connects to interweaving poetry and song to find a common humanity, especially with politics of this day and age.

"I do think the times have changed just since Anna and I did this [show] at the Rubicon," said Stookey. "The discourse has become angrier and more polarized."

He said to Anna: "That's why I think that the introduction [in the show] of the 'The Dance to the Manulenjo' is going to be important. It speaks to compromise and to understanding the other point of view."

And then there is the influence of the natural landscape on the creative act.

"What impact does the natural beauty, and sometimes the austerity of Maine, have in being able to live it," she said. "Does it matter to be in the natural world versus the urban world — I live in Los Angeles now and am aware of that contrast all the time — and how do we listen in both [environments]. Not everybody lives in natural beauty in the country. But what was the impact on Dad? There is such a rich literary community around the coast of Maine."

There is also the nurturing of creativity in the relationship between the parent and child that encourages creativity.

"You can insist on rules and regulations, but it is really by observation that children draw the important aspects of their lives, and help them make the most important decisions in their lives," said Stookey. "And it is mostly about attitude. I've been blessed as a singer/songwriter to always see possibilities. Anna talks about that sometimes on stage in our show, about hearing music everywhere, whether it is a doorbell, or leaving a door open on a car, and it goes, bing... bing..., and I'll write some sort of little jingle to it in my head."

In Stookey's mind, those are opportunities to invent and be creative.

"I think it spreads," he said, remembering when, "Betty was in the kitchen and running out of a certain ingredient that she would ordinarily use in a dish, and she would ad lib. Or when Anna and Kate [Kate Stookey is Anna's twin sister, and currently executive director of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust] could not find the shoes they wanted wear and had to wear some other shoes to school, or Liz [Stookey's older daughter] not being able to feed the dog and asking if I would — the exchanges that go on in a family are so subliminal."

He never sat the girls down and said, 'this is the way you draw a circle.' 

"None of those things existed in our house, but I think by observation, Anna, Kate and Liz had a sense of what community means and how it best evolves naturally," he said.

That playfulness and sense of possibility are fundamental to creativity, said Aubrey.

"We even talk about that in the show," she said. "'Puff the Magic Dragon' will be sung and one of the things we want to highlight in these times is to stay open to possibilities and to stay open to fun."

In her professional work, she listens all the time for a living.

"It made me think of the creative process more as a process of listening," she said, referencing the "Wedding Song", which will be sung on stage Aug. 1.

"What happens when you ask a question to God or the universe, and you get an answer in the form of a song," she asked. "That is some pretty profound listening, right there. And staying open. Couldn't we all learn to do more of that? I think it would be a blessing earth if we all did."

Music for social change is part of Stookey's life, whether to work with his daughter, Liz, with Music to Life, in an effort to perpetuate social change (part of that nonprofit's mission for socially conscious musicians is, "to realize their bold visions for community change,") for, "the young singer/songwriters who want to do more than sing a song of protest at a rubber chicken dinner," he said.

He disputes the disparagement of the term, "woke".

"I still do not understand the disabuse of that word," he said. "Does it [woke] mean compassionate? It does to me."

"To open your heart is risky," said Anna.

"As Maine goes, so goes the nation," said Stookey, speaking for those who speak up for social justice and move the temperament of society, in words, in song, in poetry.

For the audience attending the Aug. 1, "Listening for the Notes: The Gift of Word and Song in Challenging Times", Aubrey will be sending individual copies of her new chapbook, Hide & Seek: Poems for Being Found in a Lost World. to attendees following its Thanksgiving 2026 publication by Finishing Line Press.

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657