Dave Van Ronk

"Dave Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 -- February 10, 2002) was a folk singer born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York City, and was nicknamed the 'Mayor of MacDougal Street'" (Wikipedia).



"He was best known as a pioneer of the acoustic blues revival, but his work ranged from old English ballads to Bertolt Brecht, rock, New Orleans jazz, and swing. He was a pioneer of instrumental ragtime guitar. Van Ronk was very influential on the music scene in New York City in the 1960s" (Wikipedia).



"A crucial early influence on Bob Dylan and others of the Greenwich Village school, Van Ronk was at the forefront of a musical generation that drew inspiration from rural blues masters, while creating a solo performance genre popular with urban, college-educated audiences. Beginning in the late 1950's, he toured widely, performing in coffee houses and campuses. In subsequent years he broadened his repertoire to encompass the traditional jazz influences of his teenage years, art songs by the likes of Bertolt Brecht and Joni Mitchell, and his own compositions, usually marked by an ironic self-deprecation that eschewed sentimentality in favor of hard and beautiful realism. ("From Genghis Khan to the Fuller Brush Man/ They're all a bunch of losers like me.") He was also known for his solo guitar arrangements of the work of Jelly Roll Morton and other early twentieth century masters. Smithsonian Folkways is releasing a recording of his final concert, in which the artist revisits material from throughout his long career" (http://www.folkloreproductions.com/Html/vanronk.html).