Peter, Paul and Mary’s Noel Stookey just shocked fans with some savage comments targeting Bob Dylan.
Stookey, 88, who rose to stardom in his legendary American folk music group alongside Peter Yarrow and Mary Travers, was asked about Dylan’s avid touring schedule in a new interview. While Stookey admitted that he recently attended a Dylan concert in Boston, it was his shocking comments that followed that turned the heads of readers.
When asked about how Dylan still performs nearly 100 shows a year, Stookey, who has covered several Dylan classics over the years with his band, including “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” said, “I’m saddened by it.”
“Because that’s all he’s got. I mean, that’s all he’s got. He hides behind a piano when he plays. I saw him recently in Boston. It must be really, really difficult for him to have a real relationship with somebody. I mean, unless he’s got a separate little place that he runs to, in which case, God bless you, Bob Dylan,” Stookey added during the Rolling Stone interview, PEOPLE reported.
Stookey, who last spoke with Dylan at a television event in 1986, noted that he didn’t really enjoy the Boston show all that much.
“No, because he wasn’t there. I mean, his body was there, but he didn’t reach out to me. I didn’t feel — he was just doing — it’s like he was doing a show in spite of the fact that we were there rather than because we were there,” Stookey told the publication.
Stookey’s Early Bob Dylan Memories
Stookey also opened up about his early memories of seeing Dylan perform at The Gaslight Cafe in New York City.
“The first time he came in, he had that nasal set to his vocal cords, and he did basically Woody Guthrie tunes. It was nothing really great, and he asked if he could do a guest set, and I said, ‘Sure,’ because part of being an emcee was also kind of arranging the talent so that two singers didn’t go in a row,” Stookey shared.
Dylan returned a few weeks later and gave a much more complex performance.
“That was to me the beginning of the appreciation of how rich Dylan’s writing was, is, and could be. Because of that, I was already starting to work with Peter and Mary, and I knew Albert Grossman because he had put the trio together, and I said to Albert, ‘You’ve got to come down and hear this guy. He’s pretty remarkable,’ and that was the beginning of Dylan’s relationship with Grossman,” Stookey noted.
Related: Kylie Minogue Returns to Acting for a Movie Named After This Bob Dylan Classic