Dave Van Ronk

Dave Van Ronk (1936–2002) was a singer, guitarist, and arranger who became one of the central figures of the Greenwich Village folk revival of the 1960s. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, he came up through the local jazz and skiffle scenes before dedicating himself almost entirely to traditional American folk, blues, ragtime, and gospel material, which he reworked with his own distinctive fingerstyle guitar arrangements and gravelly, weathered voice.

Unlike contemporaries such as Bob Dylan, with whom he was close and frequently shared stages, Van Ronk never sought mainstream pop stardom as a songwriter. Instead he became known as an interpreter and preservationist, mentoring younger musicians and running informal songwriting and guitar workshops out of his MacDougal Street apartment, which earned him the nickname the Mayor of MacDougal Street. His versions of songs like «Cocaine Blues» and «He Was a Friend of Mine» became touchstones for the folk and blues repertoire of the era.

Van Ronk's influence extends well beyond his own recordings: he shaped the sound and outlook of an entire generation of folk revivalists, and his life loosely inspired the Coen brothers' film Inside Llewyn Davis. He remains a towering reference point for anyone studying the roots of American folk and blues performance.