Longtime Monadnock region resident Ed Mottau, who died at his home in Peterborough Nov. 3 at age 80, is being remembered as a musician, a craftsman, a mentor, friend, father and devoted member of the community.

Mottau was a guitarist and songwriter who performed with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

“My dad was right in the epicenter of the 1960s scene in New York City,” Mottau’s daughter, Christine Mottau, recalled. “He and John Lennon opened for Aretha Franklin at the fundraiser for Attica Prison at the Apollo Theater in (1971), and their bodyguards were Bobby Seale and the Black Panthers.  He was at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally in Michigan in 1971. He was hanging out with Abbie Hoffman and Allen Ginsberg; he was right in the center of it all.” 

Christine Mottau reflected that few people in the Monadnock region knew about her father’s other life. 

“My dad had such a diverse life. He would be on a world tour with Al Green or someone, and then he’d come back to New Hampshire and do the local open mic night,” she said. “He was one of the most in-demand studio musicians in the business, but then he’d come home and work with local musicians, with anyone who needed help, and he was so grateful he had the opportunity to do that.” 

Christine said her family started spending time in the Monadnock region after her father’s lifelong friend, Noel Paul Stookey – better known as “Paul” from the folk group  Peter, Paul and Mary – bought a house in Lyndeborough. 

“My dad wrote a song, ‘Old New Hampshire,’ on his first solo record for MCA Records. He was really in love with New Hampshire, and the song was about wanting to move here, ” Christine said. 

In 1973, the Mottaus bought land in Lyndeborough, and Ed set about building a house for the family: his wife, Kathy, Christine and her brother Ed.

“My dad built that entire house himself, by hand. It was a slip-form fieldstone house, made from stones he gathered from the property. It was very ahead if its time; the design was based on Helen and Scott Nearing’s early sustainable energy movement,”  Christine said. “My dad taught my brother and I that whatever you do, get really, really good at it. Be the best. That’s the way he was. He became the best guitarist he could possibly be. Music was his vocation, and his job, but his avocation, his passion, was woodworking. He was in demand all over New England for historic preservation work.”

Christine laughed while thinking about her family’s arrival in Lyndeborough.

“At first, people thought we were these freaky rock ’n’ roll people, but at heart, my dad was a humble guy from Massachusetts,” Mottau said.

Kathy and Ed Mottau became immersed in their local community. Kathy worked at the Beech Hill Hospital as director of family services and started a Peterborough after-school program, “A Place to Go, A Place Together,” for “latchkey kids” and children who were at-risk in the region. 

“My father would do these benefit concerts and raise enough money to keep the program alive. He was always very community-minded and very driven to help others; he was always doing fundraisers for local causes. My parents came from the civically minded, activist position where you get involved; if you want to make changes you roll up your sleeves and help,” Christine Mottau said. 

Ed Mottau soon became involved with The Folkway, which was founded by local music lovers Widdie and Jonathan Hall.

“My dad was really integrated into the national folk scene, and he brought a lot of people to The Folkway – David Mallett, people like that,” Christine Mottau recalled. “He was the first artist who played there. He mentored a lot of people in this community, and he was just extremely encouraging to other people,” Christine Mottau said. 

After Kathy Mottau died in 2018, Ed moved to Peterborough. Christine said in the weeks since her father’s death, she has heard from people all over Peterborough about how much they loved her dad.

“That is who my dad was. I grew up in a household that was just so happy,” Christine said. “My parents were kids when they had us; they were like 21. They were hippie kids. Our house was filled with free thinkers, musicians, artists and poets, and it was  filled with music; my father played  the guitar  every single day. It was a magical childhood. My dad always used to say,  ‘Only kindness matters.’ “