David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of

MacDougal Street MacDougal Street is a one-way street in the Greenwich Village and SoHo neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City. The street is bounded on the south by Prince Street and on the north by West 8th Street; its numbering begins in the south. Betw ...

". Van Ronk's work ranged from old English ballads to blues,

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

, rock, New Orleans jazz, and swing. He was also known for performing instrumental

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

guitar music, especially his transcription of "St. Louis Tickle" and Scott Joplin's " Maple Leaf Rag". Van Ronk was a widely admired avuncular figure in "the Village", presiding over the coffeehouse folk culture and acting as a friend to many up-and-coming artists by inspiring, assisting, and promoting them. Folk performers he befriended include

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, Tom Paxton, Patrick Sky, Phil Ochs,

Ramblin' Jack Elliott Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliot Charles Adnopoz; August 1, 1931) is an American folk singer and songwriter. Life and career Elliott was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, United States, the son of Florence (Rieger) and Abraham Adnopoz, a ...

, and Joni Mitchell. Dylan recorded Van Ronk's arrangement of the traditional song "

House of the Rising Sun A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

" on his first album, which

the Animals The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and ...

turned into a chart-topping rock single in 1964, helping inaugurate the folk-rock movement. Van Ronk received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ( ASCAP) in December 1997.

Life and career

Van Ronk was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

to a family that was "mostly Irish, despite the Dutch name". He moved from Brooklyn to

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

around 1945 and began attending Holy Child Jesus Catholic School, whose students were mainly of Irish descent. He had been performing in a barbershop quartet since 1949, but left before finishing high school, and spent time in the Merchant Marine. His first professional gigs playing tenor banjola were with various traditional jazz bands around New York, of which he later observed: "We wanted to play traditional jazz in the worst way ... and we did!" But the

trad jazz Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, played by musicians such as Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer and Monty Sunshine, based on a re ...

revival had already passed its prime, and Van Ronk turned to performing blues he had stumbled across while shopping for jazz 78s, by artists like

Furry Lewis Walter E. "Furry" Lewis (March 6, 1893 or 1899 – September 14, 1981) was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. He was one of the first of the blues musicians active in the 1920s to be brought out of retir ...

and

Mississippi John Hurt John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), better known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer and guitarist. Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself to play the guitar around the age of nine. He w ...

. By about 1958, he was firmly committed to the folk-blues style, accompanying himself with his own acoustic guitar. He performed blues,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

, occasionally writing his own songs but generally arranging the work of earlier artists and his folk revival peers. He became noted both for his large physical stature and his expansive charisma, which bespoke an intellectual, cultured gentleman of many talents. Among his many interests were cooking,

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

(he was active for some time in

science fiction fandom Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...

, referring to it as "mind rot", and contributed to

fanzines A fanzine (blend of '' fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share ...

), world history, and politics. During the 1960s he supported radical left-wing political causes and was a member of the Libertarian League and the Trotskyist American Committee for the Fourth International (ACFI, later renamed the Workers League). In 1974, he appeared at "An Evening For

Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...

", a concert organized by Phil Ochs, alongside such other performers as his old friend Bob Dylan, to protest the overthrow of the democratic socialist government of Chile and to aid refugees from the U.S.-backed military junta led by

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

. After Ochs's suicide in 1976, Van Ronk joined the many performers who played at his memorial concert in the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden, playing his bluesy version of the traditional folk ballad "

He Was A Friend Of Mine "He Was a Friend of Mine" is a traditional folk song in which the singer laments the death of a friend. Ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax was the first to collect the song, in 1939, describing it as a "blues" that was "a dirge for a dead comrade." T ...

". Although Van Ronk was less politically active in later years, he remained committed to anarchist and socialist ideals and was a dues-paying member of the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

(IWW) almost until his death. Van Ronk was among 13 people arrested at the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall, is a gay bar and recreational tavern in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which is widely considered to be the sin ...

June 28, 1969—the night of the Stonewall Riots, which is widely credited as the spark of the contemporary gay rights movement. Van Ronk had been dining at a neighboring restaurant, joined the riot against the Stonewall's police occupation, and was dragged from the crowd into the building by police deputy inspector Seymour Pine. The police slapped and punched Van Ronk to the point of near unconsciousness, handcuffed him to a radiator near the doorway, and decided to charge him for assault. Recalling the expanding riot, Van Ronk said, "There were more people out there utside the buildingwhen I came out than when I went in. Things were still flying through the air, cacophony—I mean, just screaming and yelling, sirens, strobe lights, the whole spaghetti." The next day, he was arrested and later released on his own recognizance for having thrown a heavy object at a police officer.Eskow, Dennis. "4 Policemen Hurt in 'Village' Raid: Melee Near Sheridan Square Follows Action at Bar", ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', June 29, 1969, p. 33. City records show he was charged with felony assault in the second degreeCriminal Court of the City of New York, docket number A9798: original charge against Van Ronk: pL 120.05 and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of harassment, classified in 1969 as a violation under PL 240.25. In 2000, he performed at Blind Willie's in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, speaking fondly of his impending return to Greenwich Village. He reminisced over tunes like "You've Been a Good Old Wagon", a song teasing a worn-out lover, which he ruefully remarked had seemed humorous to him back in 1962. He was married to Terri Thal in the 1960s, lived for many years with Joanne Grace, then married Andrea Vuocolo, with whom he spent the rest of his life. He continued to perform for four decades and gave his last concert just a few months before his death. 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''. In 2004, a section of Sheridan Square, where Barrow Street meets Washington Place, was renamed Dave Van Ronk Street in his memory. Van Ronk was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously by the World Folk Music Association in 2004.

Death

On February 10th, 2002, Dave Van Ronk died in a New York hospital of cardiopulmonary failure while undergoing postoperative treatment for colon cancer.

Cultural impact

Van Ronk was an irreverent guitar artist and interpreter of Black blues and folk, with an uncannily precise gift for impersonation. Joni Mitchell said that his rendition of her song "

Both Sides Now "Both Sides, Now" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. First recorded by Judy Collins, it appeared on the US singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Mitchell's album '' Clouds'', and became one ...

" (which he called "Clouds") was her favorite version of the song. His guitar work, for which he credits Tom Paley as fingerpicking teacher, is noteworthy for both syncopation and precision. It shows similarities to

's, but Van Ronk's main influence was the

Reverend Gary Davis Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis (born Gary D. Davis, April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972), was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infan ...

, who conceived the guitar as "a piano around his neck." Van Ronk took this pianistic approach and added a harmonic sophistication adapted from the band voicings of

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...

and Duke Ellington. He ranks high in bringing blues style to

during the 1960s, as well as introducing the folk world to the complex harmonies of Kurt Weill in his many Brecht-Weill interpretations, and was one of a very few hardcore traditional revivalists to move with the times, bringing old blues and ballads together with the new sounds of Dylan, Mitchell and

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

. During this crucial period, he performed with Dylan and similar artists and spent many years teaching guitar in Greenwich Village, including to Christine Lavin, David Massengill, Terre Roche and

Suzzy Roche Suzzy Roche ( ; born September 29, 1956) is an American singer and actress best known for her work with the vocal group The Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre. Suzzy is the youngest of the three, and joined the act in 1977. She is the aut ...

. He influenced his protégé

Danny Kalb Daniel Ira Kalb (September 9, 1942 – November 19, 2022) was an American blues guitarist and vocalist. He was an original member of the 1960s group the Blues Project. Life and career Kalb was a protégé of Dave Van Ronk and became a solo per ...

and

the Blues Project The Blues Project is a band from the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City that was formed in 1965 and originally split up in 1967. Their songs drew from a wide array of musical styles. They are most remembered as one of the most artfu ...

. The Japanese singer Masato Tomobe, American pop-folk singer Geoff Thais and the musician and writer Elijah Wald learned from him as well. He once said, "Painting is all about space, and music is all about time." In his autobiography, Dylan writes, "I'd heard Van Ronk back in the Midwest on records and thought he was pretty great, copied some of his recordings phrase for phrase. ..Van Ronk could howl and whisper, turn blues into ballads and ballads into blues. I loved his style. He was what the city was all about. In Greenwich Village, Van Ronk was king of the street, he reigned supreme." Thanks to what he had learned from Davis, Van Ronk was among the first to adapt traditional jazz and ragtime to the solo acoustic guitar with arrangements of such ragtime hits as "St. Louis Tickle", " The Entertainer", "The Pearls" and " Maple Leaf Rag". The

Coen brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

film '' Inside Llewyn Davis'' follows a folk singer similar to Van Ronk, and incorporates anecdotes based on Van Ronk's life. Van Ronk is mentioned in

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's 2013 song ‘(You Will) Set the World on Fire' on

The Next Day ''The Next Day'' is the 25th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released in March 2013. It was his first studio release in ten years, having retreated from public view after his 2004 heart attack. Co-produced by Bowie and longtime c ...

album. Van Ronk was mentioned among the dead musicians and recording artists in the song "Mirror Door" by

the Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

in 2006 on the album ''Endless Wire''.

Personal characteristics

Van Ronk refused for many years to fly and never learned to drive (he took trains or buses or, when possible, recruited a girlfriend or young musician as his driver), and he declined to ever move from Greenwich Village for any extended period of time (having stayed in California for a short time in the 1960s). Van Ronk's trademark

stoneware Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay. Whether vi ...

jug of

Tullamore Dew Tullamore Dew, rendered in most branding as Tullamore D.E.W. (typically with the dots de-emphasised using colour and font size), is a brand of Irish whiskey produced by William Grant & Sons. It is the second-largest-selling brand of Irish whi ...

was frequently seen on stage next to him in his early days. Critic Robert Shelton described Van Ronk as "the musical mayor of MacDougal Street":

...a tall, garrulous hairy man of three quarters, or, more accurately, three fifths Irish descent. Topped by light brownish hair and a leonine beard, which he smoothed down several times a minute, he resembled an unmade bed strewn with books, record jackets, pipes, empty whiskey bottles, lines from obscure poets, finger picks, and broken guitar strings. He was ylans first New York guru. Van Ronk was a walking museum of the blues. Through an early interest in jazz, he had gravitated toward black music—its jazz pole, its jug-band and ragtime center, its blues bedrock.... His manner was rough and testy, disguising a warm, sensitive core.

Discography

Studio albums

* 1959: '' Van Ronk Sings Ballads, Blues, and a Spiritual'' (also released as ''Gambler's Blues'' and ''Black Mountain Blues'') (Folkways) * 1961: '' Dave Van Ronk Sings'' (also released as ''Dave Van Ronk Sings the Blues'' and ''Dave Van Ronk Sings Earthy Ballads and Blues'') (Folkways) * 1962: '' Dave Van Ronk, Folksinger'' (Prestige) * 1963: '' In the Tradition'' (Prestige) * 1964: '' Inside Dave Van Ronk'' (Prestige) * 1964: '' Dave Van Ronk and the Ragtime Jug Stompers'' (Mercury) * 1964: '' Just Dave Van Ronk'' (Mercury) * 1966: ''

No Dirty Names ''No Dirty Names'' is a 1966 album by artist Dave Van Ronk. It features the first recorded version of Bob Dylan's song "The Old Man". Reception Writing for Allmusic, critic Richie Unterberger wrote about the album "While this is certainly among ...

'' (Verve/Forecast) * 1967: '' Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters'' (Verve Forecast) * 1971: '' Van Ronk'' (Polydor) * 1973: '' Songs for Ageing Children'' (Cadet) * 1976: '' Sunday Street'' (Philo) * 1980: '' Somebody Else, Not Me'' (Philo) * 1982: '' Your Basic Dave Van Ronk'' * 1985: '' Going Back to Brooklyn'' (Reckless) * 1990: '' Hummin' to Myself'' * 1990: ''

Peter and the Wolf ''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и Bолк, r="Pétya i volk", p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk, links=no) Op. 67, a "symphonic fairy tale for children", is a musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a children's s ...

'' * 1992: '' Let No One Deceive You: Songs of Bertolt Brecht'' ( Frankie Armstrong & Dave Van Ronk) * 1994: '' To All My Friends in Far-Flung Places'' * 1995: '' From... Another Time & Place'' * 2001: '' Sweet & Lowdown'' * 2005: ''

The Mayor of MacDougal Street ''The Mayor of MacDougal Street: Rarities 1957-1969'' is a compilation album by American folksinger Dave Van Ronk, released in 2005. History ''The Mayor of MacDougal Street'' contains previously unreleased songs and is presented in chronological ...

'' * 2013: ''Down in Washington Square: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection'' (

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fo ...

)

Live

* 1982: '' Your Basic Dave Van Ronk'' * 1983: '' St James Infirmary'' (released in 1996 as ''Statesboro Blues'') * 1983: '' Dave Van Ronk in Rome'' * 1997: '' Live at Sir George Williams University'' (recorded in 1967) * 2004: '' Dave Van Ronk: ...and the tin pan bended and the story ended...'' (Smithsonian Folkways) * 2008: ''On Air'' (1993) * 2014: ''Live in Monterey'' (recorded in 1998) * 2015: ''Hear Me Howl: Live 1964'' (recorded Indiana University, Bloomington Indiana, October 20, 1964)

Compilation albums

* 1972: ''Van Ronk'' (includes ''Folksinger'' and ''Inside Dave Van Ronk'' in their entirety. Later released on CD as '' Inside Dave Van Ronk'' LP reissued in 2013) * 1988: '' Hesitation Blues'' * 1989: '' Inside Dave Van Ronk'' * 1991: ''

The Folkways Years, 1959 - 1961 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (Smithsonian Folkways) * 1992: '' A Chrestomathy'' * 2002: '' Two Sides of Dave Van Ronk'' (includes all of ''In the Tradition'' and most of Your Basic Dave Van Ronk) * 2012: ''Bluesmaster'' (includes all of ''Sings Ballads, Blues and a Spiritual'' and selections from ''Dave Van Ronk Sings'')

As guest

* 1958: ''Skiffle in Stereo'' (The Orange Blossom Jug Five) * 1959: '' The Unfortunate Rake'' * 1959: ''Fo'csle Songs and Shanties'' (by Paul Clayton) - Van Ronk sings on all songs. * 1963: ''Newport Folk Festival 1963 The Evening Concerts Vol. 2'' * 1964: ''Blues from Newport'' * 1964: ''The Blues Project'' * 1995: ''Life Lines'', Peter, Paul and Mary, * 1998: ''Other Voices, Too'', Nanci Griffith * 1999: ''The Man From God Knows Where'', Tom Russell

Tributes

* 2007: ''Dave on Dave'', David Massengill album tribute to Dave Van Ronk * 2015: ''Redemption Road'', Tom Paxton album including the tribute song, ''The Mayor of MacDougal Street'' about Dave Van Ronk

Bibliography

Van Ronk was author of a posthumous memoir, ''The Mayor of MacDougal Street'' (2005) written with Elijah Wald. Anecdotes from the book were used as a source for the film '' Inside Llewyn Davis''. Van Ronk and Richard Ellington collected and edited ''The Bosses' Songbook: 2Songs to Stifle the Flames of Discontent, Second Edition – A Collection of Modern Political Songs and Satire'' (Richard Ellington, publisher: New York, 1959).

References

External links

NY Times obituary

About the book. ElijahWald.com. * * Stefan Wirz

* Otto Bost (June 30, 2004)
Dave Van Ronk Street Renaming Ceremony
Photo essay. OttoFocus.net * Charles Freudenthal (August 2005)

Anecdotes. e*I*21. (Vol. 4 No. 4)
Dave Van Ronk Discography

. * Dave Read (December 2, 2013)
Remembering Dave Van Ronk
article about meetings with Dave Van Ronk in the 1970s and 1999. * David Browne (December 2, 2013)
Rolling Stone. Meet the folk singer who inspired 'Inside Llewyn Davis'.
* Aaron J. Leonard (July 8, 2018
Newly Unearthed FBI File Exposes Targeting of Folk Singer Dave Van Ronk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Ronk, Dave 1936 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers American blues singers American folk guitarists American male guitarists American folk singers American jazz singers American sailors American Trotskyists American people of Irish descent Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from colorectal cancer Fingerstyle guitarists Industrial Workers of the World members Musicians from Brooklyn People from Greenwich Village Science fiction fans Fast Folk artists Guitarists from New York (state) 20th-century American guitarists Jazz musicians from New York (state) American male jazz musicians