The Mayor of MacDougal Street

The above heading is the name of the autobiography of Dave Van Ronk which will be published in paperback shortly. I am looking forward to it very much. Van Ronk is one of the greatest American blues/folk singers you never heard of. His influence on Bob Dylan is profound - acknowledged by Dylan in 'Chronicles'. His version of Joni Mitchell's 'Clouds' (Both Sides Now) is the greatest ever of this much covered song. Van Ronk's hurt, scarred, bleeding voice (you'll know what I mean when you listen) wringing far more emotion from the song than its author intended. One respected New York critic 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 Bob (Dylan's) 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. Van Ronk retold the blues intimately....for a time, his most dedicated follower was Dylan." It is fairly scandalous that Van Ronk's records are so difficult to get a hold of nowadays, but it is well worth the effort tracking them down. Copy and paste the link below to download 'Clouds' for an introduction to Van Ronk's work. http://www.sendspace.com/file/mmip1d Do it soon as the link only lasts for a couple of days.