Biography

The Mayor Of MacDougal Street shines in a 1998 performance.

It’s hard to believe the influence one man can have on an enormous variety of music and styles. Dave Van Ronk was one of those men. While regarded as a pioneer of the folk-blues movement which took over Greenwich Village in the late 1950s—he could not be tied to just one genre. He moved between ballads to jazz to rock. His finger-picking style of guitar playing is still studied and emulated. And, in 1998, after fifty years of performing music, Van Ronk was still mesmerizing crowds.

Recorded at Carleton Hall in California, Live In Monterey works as both a retrospective and an introduction to the work of Dave Van Ronk. The 16 tracks move from traditional numbers to blues classic to originals, and touch on every aspect of what makes Dave Van Ronk revered by musicians of every generation. Just Dave, his voice, and his guitar. That’s all that is needed.

Beautifully packaged in a full-color digipak and including liner notes from set co-producer Rick Chelew (who recorded the set) and folk legend Happy Traum, Live In Monterey is a release that helps solidify what many already know—there was only one Dave Van Ronk.

It’s time for an audience with The Mayor.