Dave Van Ronk The Mayor of MacDougal Street CD

Dave Van Ronk was a monumental figure on the Greenwich Village folk scene of the fifties and sixties. His gruff, whiskey voice and brilliant guitar style were instantly distinctive and he ranged with ease from raw blues to gentle English ballads to the work of young friends like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell.
This album of previously unreleased tracks - a mix of concert, studio, and apartment recordings - traces his musical evolution and with it the growth of the folk revival from a small coterie of Village pickers into an international musical revolution. Along with some old favorites, it includes performances that are unlike anything on his other records, and will surprise even longtime fans. Dave was never an easy man to type, and this set expands our understanding of one of America's great musicians.

Produced by Elijah Wald in association with Multicultural Media and Lyrichord Discs.

A companion CD to Dave Van Ronk's hilarious and insightful memoir of the Greenwich Village folk revival, The Mayor of MacDougal Street (DaCapo Press, 2005) To find out more about the book, go here -- http://www.elijahwald.com/vanronk.html

“...This charming odds-and-ends collection of his previously unreleased live, studio and apartment material reveals a Brooklyn-born musician who could deliver precise, full-bore blues ("Two Trains Running"), jazz ("Buddy Bolden's Blues") and even the occasional folk rock...One of the real revelations is Van Ronk's lived'in version of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," which rescues a great song from the realm of singer-songwriter cliche. - David Wild - ROLLING STONE, May 19, 2005

 

"Van Ronk had a wider musical palette than many people realized;his wide-ranging musical interests are everywhere apparent on this lovingly assembled look behind the curtains." -ALL MUSIC GUIDE

 

Hear a fascinating 56 minutes worth of interviews, stories and archival clips featuring author/producer Elijah Wald and Folk/Blues legend Dave Van Ronk - produced and hosted by Mark Greenberg.
Listen to the Sidetracks(tm) features here

Tracks (w/.mp3 samples!)
high | low 1. New Orleans Hop Scop Blues
high | low 2. On Top Of Old Smoky
high | low 3. All My Trials
high | low 4. Buddy Bolden's Blues
high | low 5. The Butcher Boy
high | low 6. Salty Dog
high | low 7. Two Trains Running
high | low 8. Way Down In Lubyanka Prison
high | low 9. Willie The Weeper
high | low 10. Shaving Cream
high | low 11. The Cruel Ship's Captain
high | low 12. As You Make Your Bed
high | low 13. Bird On The Wire
high | low 14. Both Sides Now
high | low 15. In Conditional Support Of Beauty
high | low 16. W.C. Fields Routine
high | low 17. Romping Through The Swamp