The Mayor of MacDougal Street

A Memoir

By: Dave Van Ronk, Elijah Wald

Narrated by: Sean Runnette

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Hear the memoir that served as inspiration for a major motion picture written and directed by the Coen brothers.

Dave Van Ronk was one of the founding figures of the 1960s folk revival, but he was far more than that. A pioneer of modern acoustic blues, a fine songwriter and arranger, a powerful singer, and one of the most influential guitarists of the ’60s, he was also a marvelous storyteller, a peerless musical historian, and one of the most quotable figures on the Village scene.

The Mayor of MacDougal Street is a firsthand account by a major player in the social and musical history of the ’50s and ’60s. It features encounters with young stars-to-be like Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Joni Mitchell, as well as older luminaries like the Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, and Odetta. Colorful, hilarious, and engaging, The Mayor of MacDougal Street is a feast for anyone interested in the music, politics, and spirit of a revolutionary period in American culture.

©2005 Elijah Wald and Andrea Vuocolo (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“In Greenwich Village, Van Ronk was king of the street, he reigned supreme.” (Bob Dylan)

“A wise and very funny book.” ( The New Yorker)

“A hulking raconteur and iconoclast, [Van Ronk] fondly captures the spirit of the times.” ( Q)

Informative and entertaining, surprisingly funny

Van Ronk had a bitingly sharp wit, and this collaborstive auto-biography is a great read.

Dave

The first time I heard Dave was on a Phoenix underground radio station in 1971. I loved folk music then as now. The first impression was that this guy is the real thing and have, over the years, collected every piece of his that I could find. And I saw the movie. This book validates my original conclusion.

Overview of NYC folk music scene of '50's & 60's.

If you like folk music of the mid- to late 20th century, you'll probably enjoy this memoir, an insider's perspective of the folk music scene, mostly around Greenwich Village. Mention Dave Van Ronk to someone today and you are likely to get a blank stare. Van Ronk never was a superstar but was well known, especially among other folk singers. The narrative is first person, but this is more like an autobiography of his professional life than his personal life. For example, we learn that he was married twice, but you learn little more about his wives than their names. Wald has done a brilliant job editing the material left by Dave Van Ronk. In an epilogue by Wald, you can tell this was a labor of love.
Although the book was the inspiration for the Coen Brothers film "Inside Llewyn Davis," van Ronk differed in important ways from the character in the film. For example, Dave's first love was jazz, and he never abandoned it. Although he hitched a ride to Chicago and back once in hopes of playing at The Gate of Horn, there was never involved a jazz musician resembling Roland Turner nor the Kerouac-like driver/beat poet Johnny Five.

Pitch perfect, humble, witty

Dave Van Ronk had the absolutely best window on the world that spawned the folk revival in Greenwich Village in the 1960s. His memoir is full of fascinating details (e.g., folk music was originally scheduled in Beat coffee houses to clear the room between sets, so that a new round of coffee drinkers would come in to hear the next poet). I wished this could have been 2X as long.
If you're interested in the Village, in folk music, in NY history (political radicals, musicians, hipsters), this will stand out as a unique record. Never boring, often funny and always well-spoken. Note for Dylan fans (of which I'm one): DVR was one of Dylan's earliest admirers/fellow-travelers. He writes with gentle insight about Dylan, worth hearing, but it's a minor part of the memoir.

An absolute joy

I’ve loved the man’s music for years, but knew next to nothing about his deep involvement in the Greenwich Village folk scene. His unique perspective, having been deeply involved in the community for years before it became a phenomenon, allows for an overview of the contributing factors that I had never considered. Deeply subjective as his view may have been, Van Ronk stays self-aware and self-effacing in a way that is often missing in such personal editorials. I am so grateful for this book, and the man who made it, and love how much more vivid my view now is of this fairly ordinary man who led an extraordinary life, rubbing shoulders with incredible talents like Rev Gary Davis, Bob Dylan, and Mississippi John Hurt, recognizing their deep appreciation of their craft, and emulating them as best he could, and making their styles his own. I am inspired and deeply appreciative of this work, and cannot recommend it highly enough.

Long Live the Mayor!

Where does The Mayor of MacDougal Street rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I love this biography/mini-history of the mid-Twentieth century Greenwich Music music scene. It magically transported me to a very special time and place through the eyes and heart of a person who devoted his life to music despite all of the "slings and arrows". His sense of humility, intelligence and humor shined a great spotlight on "The Folk Scare" of the early Sixties. Two of the things that I liked a lot were how hard it was to make it as a musician and the cultural description of NY and other places when he was on road trips elsewhere and briefly living in California.

What other book might you compare The Mayor of MacDougal Street to and why?

Keith Richards biography. Keith barely acknowledges his good luck and seems vain and thin skinned compared to this guy.

Have you listened to any of Sean Runnette’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have never listened to the narrator before but he did a wonderful job kind of becoming Dave in a way.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Although the Coen Brothers movie "Inside LLewyn Davis" borrows generously from this book, and I really love the Coen Brothers movies, it is not any kind of accurate reflection of Van Ronk's personality. You would be best served watching it afterward. I saw it both before and after with very different perspectives. If you have already seen it it won't diminish the book in any way.

Great book about New York music and the 50s and 60s

This was a wonderful and enjoyable book about jazz and blues and bluegrass and folk and singer songwriters it also gave a true feel for a Greenwich Village was like in the 50s and 60s. At the same time it was an autobiography a wonderfully entertaining one about one of the true great characters of music.

Interesting, but not what I expected

After hearing the epilogue I understood why a trip to California took up such a chunk of the book. We are fortunate to have this document of a special time, place, and musician.

Van Ronk

Delightful and honest- as always, Dave shoots from the hip. ‘Tis refreshing, to say the least.

This is what we missed out on!

Honestly, I didn't know who Dave Van Ronk was until I listened to this book. I got this book because I was interested in learning about the 1960's music scene in Greenwich Village. The book taught me much more than what I had expected. Dave Van Ronk is hilarious and honest in his depictions of the period. I was fascinated by the period, disillusioned a little bit but overall really enjoyed the journey through his experience. I always thought Bob Dylan was an elusive character, but Van Ronk's description of him perfectly explained why this was the case. Greenwich Village in the late '50s and early '60s was such a unique place/time - so many of the musicians who flocked in the area influenced each other. Sure, Dylan had a talent, but he would never have emerged as he did without the unique window of space/time described in this book. I also learned what it was like to be a musician trying to be himself. Thank you, Dave Van Ronk. Thank you, Elijah Wald. I recently passed through the neighborhood and felt so sad that many of the cafes/bars described in the book were gone and replaced by chain pharmacies and banks...