watching.” Noel brought a finger-style guitar technique, informed by “the homespun casual style of Arthur Godfrey, the group singing and doo-wop of rhythm & blues by the Cadillacs, the mellowness of Bing Crosby, the recording innovations of Les Paul, the semi-classical guitar style of Charlie Byrd, the rapport within the members of the Brubeck Quartet,” but especially by the seven-string jazz guitar work of George Van Eps.

Noel was also was an accomplished stage comedian, “one of the great comedians in New York at the time, who ranked up there with Bill Cosby and Woody Allen” according to Peter Yarrow. He also brought the middle name “Paul,” which made for a more memorable, alliterative band brand.

Noel’s background complemented the more traditional folk repertoire of Peter Yarrow and Mary Travers.man! This song has a Leonard Cohen-like melodic simplicity, performed in Noel’s authentic, expressive voice, backed by an intricate double finger-picked guitar arrangement. The song charted in 1972 and has remained popular ever since.

Noel proactively established a nonprofit foundation to put all the income from “Wedding Song” to work for positive causes. He tells us that the Public Domain Foundation was “initially set up to disburse funds created by the “Wedding Song,” and two million dollars of sharing the wealth has begun to support, in particular, Music to Life (musictolife.org), an organization created by my daughter Liz and dedicated to the musical activist artist.”

In the late 1970s, Peter, Paul and Mary picked up where they left off, writing, performing, and advocating for social justice. In the 1980s, they