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IN MEMORIAM
Dave Van Ronk, 1936–2002
BY TED DROZDOWSKI

Decades ago, the singer and guitarist Dave Van Ronk recorded "Talking Cancer Blues." On Sunday, February 11, the disease claimed the New York City performer, who was known during the heyday of the ’50s and ’60s Greenwich Village folk scene as the "mayor of MacDougal Street."

Van Ronk earned that appellation for the generosity, encouragement, and friendship he extended to other artists during the years when American folk music underwent its explosive entry into popular culture. Back then, the likes of Odetta, Tom Paxton, Peter Yarrow, Phil Ochs, and Bob Dylan — whom Van Ronk mentored when Dylan arrived in New York — could be found in his apartment on that venerable thoroughfare on any given night, trading songs or enjoying one of the gourmet meals Van Ronk loved to cook.

Born in Brooklyn on June 30, 1936, Van Ronk quit high school to become a musician. Initially he found his place as a player of traditional blues, delivering the lyrics of songs like "Cocaine Blues" and "Fixin’ To Die Blues" in a gritty, talking style. His guitar-playing outshone his singing, and he eventually became a widely respected instrumentalist who taught the tricks of his art to other established musicians and gave lessons almost until the end of his life. He also showed many of the old songs he’d mastered to younger performers and contributed to their work. For example, Van Ronk taught Dylan "He Was a Friend of Mine" and "House of the Rising Sun," and wrote the chords to Dylan’s "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down."

In the ’60s, Van Ronk was a fixture of all the major folk-music festivals in the US and abroad, at first playing primarily country blues, then moving into the traditional jug-band catalogue, and finally into jazz and rags. Louis Armstrong was one of his idols. In fact, the most recent of Van Ronk’s 30-odd albums was last year’s Sweet and Lowdown (Justin Time), which embraced jazz ballads of the ’20s and ’30s and featured the usually solo performer in a rare band setting. Van Ronk was nominated for a Grammy in 1996 for From ... Another Time and Place (Alacazam!/Alca) and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.

During his near half-century of performing, Van Ronk maintained a reputation as one of folk’s reigning artists and expanded his repertoire from traditional music and his own writing to songs by Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, and other contemporaries he admired. He also influenced a new generation of folk musicians in the 1970s and early ’80s, including Janis Ian, Suzanne Vega, and the Roches.

Van Ronk was diagnosed with malignant colon cancer and underwent surgery in October and November of last year. He began six months of scheduled chemotherapy treatment, and a fund was established (at Folklore Productions, 1671 Appian Way, Santa Monica, CA 90401) to offset the loss of income from the bookings and lessons he had to cancel.

Van Ronk was 65 when he died last Sunday, following cardio-pulmonary-system failure. He is survived by his wife, Andrea Vuocolo. It was a testament to Van Ronk’s strength that he spent his last weeks going through the tapes of what would be his final concert, recorded on October 22 in Adelphi, Maryland, to assemble a live album.

Issue Date: February 14 - 21, 2002
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