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."

Career

Van Ronk moved from Brooklyn to Queens in 1951 and began attending Richmond Hill High School. He had been performing in a barbershop quartert group since 1949, but left it after high school to do a stint in the Merchant Marine.

Related Topics:
Brooklyn - Queens - 1951 - Barbershop quartert - 1949 - Merchant Marine

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1956 he began his professional music career, touring colleges and small venues in the Beat scene. He performed blues, jazz and folk music, writing his own songs and doing new arrangements of classics. Initially he strived to revive traditional jazz, observing "We wanted to play traditional jazz in the worst way...and we did!" The jazz revival didn't take off though, and Van Ronk turned to performing blues music he'd stumbled across and enjoyed years earlier, by artists like Furry Lewis and Mississippi John Hurt. Van Ronk was not the first white musician to perform African-American blues, but became noted for his interpretation of it in its original context.

Related Topics:
1956 - Beat - Blues - Jazz - Folk music - Furry Lewis - Mississippi John Hurt

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He became noted both for his large physical stature and his expansive charisma, which belied an intellectual, cultured gentleman of many talents. Among his many interests: cooking, science fiction, world history, and politics. During the 1960s he supported radical political causes and was a member of the Libertarian League. He took part in the infamous Stonewall Riots during which he was beaten. In 1974 he appeared at a concert with his old friend Bob Dylan, to aid refugees from the military coup by Augusto Pinochet in Chile.

Related Topics:
1960s - Libertarian League - Stonewall Riots - 1974 - Bob Dylan - Augusto Pinochet - Chile

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2000 he performed at Blind Willie's in Atlanta, clothed in garish Hawaiian garb, speaking fondly of his impending return to Greenwich Village. He reminisced over tunes like Good Ol Wagon, a song he says was humorous back in 1962. He was married to the singer Andrea Vuocolo. He continued to perform for four decades and gave his last concert just a few months before his death. A street in Greenwich Village was named after him in 2004. He found it amusing to be called "a legend in his own time."

Related Topics:
2000 - Atlanta - Hawaii - 1962 - Andrea Vuocolo - 2004

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Van Ronk died before completing work on his memoirs, which were finished by his collaborator, Elijah Wald, and published in 2005 as The Mayor Of MacDougal Street.

Related Topics:
Elijah Wald - 2005 - The Mayor Of MacDougal Street

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~