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Dave Van Ronk: The Mayor of MacDougal Street, Rarities 1957-1969 MCM-4005

Dave Van Ronk: The Mayor of MacDougal Street, Rarities 1957-1969 MCM-4005



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Never-Before Released Tracks!!!

Compiled as a companion to Dave's memoir of the folk revival, The Mayor of MacDougal Street written with Elijah Wald (Da Capo Press, 2005), the book that inspired the new Coen Brothers' movie Inside Llewyn David

This is a collection of rare and unreleased recordings made between 1957 and 1969. It shows both familiar facets of Dave's work -- Jelly Roll Morton's "Buddy Bolden's Blues," Muddy Waters's "Two Trains Running" -- and startling departures like a lovely version of "On Top of Old Smokey," the Brooklyn street song "Shaving Cream," and a Trotskyist bluegrass number, "Way Down in Lubyanka Prison." Most of the tracks are solo, but there is one cut from the rare Skiffle In Stereo LP, and a live number from Dave's rock band, the Hudson Dusters. The intention was to show the breadth of Dave's work, so there are also two a cappella performances of old British ballads, one from the late fifties and another from the mid-sixties, showing how his ballad style evolved. There are songs by Bertolt Brecht, Joni Mitchell, and Leonard Cohen, as well as a previously unreleased Van Ronk original, "In Conditional Support of Beauty." All in all, this may be the most varied Van Ronk album ever released, and fills out our understanding of a superbly tasteful and talented artist who was the king of Greenwich Village at the height of the folk revival and a defining influence on everyone from Bob Dylan on down. 

To hear Mark Greenberg's Sidetracks interview with Elijah Wald and track by track discussion of the songs, go to Sidetracks.

Listen to Samples

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


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