Personnel: Dave Van Ronk (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar).
Liner Note Author: Michael Nerenberg.
Recording information: Sir George Williams University (01/27/1967).
Photographer: Michael Nerenberg.
Though among his late-'50s/early-'60s contemporaries in the Greenwich Village folk scene, Dave Van Ronk was less critically acclaimed than Bob Dylan or commercially successful than Peter, Paul and Mary, it could be argued that he was the best interpretive singer of his era. Even in the early days, Van Ronk was never a folk purist. In fact, his first musical love was jazz, and his vocals often recalled Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday as much as they did Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie.
This 1967 solo concert showcases Van Ronk's wide span of stylistic influences. He plays everything from an ingenious recasting of Brecht and Weill's "Mack the Knife"--much truer to THE THREEPENNY OPERA than either Armstrong or Bobby Darin's more famous renditions--to the traditional ballad "Frankie and Albert." Originals like "The Old Man" are equally impressive, making this album a fine document of Van Ronk at the top of his form.
