The Mayor of MacDougal Street

Dave Van Ronk’s autobiography, The Mayor of MacDougal Street is a wonderful read. To me it was like sitting in his living room late into the night talking, eating, drinking and listening to music. Dave was a masterful storyteller and it’s an amazing and wonderful thing that he was able to capture that feeling on the page. There are many wonderful and funny stories in there (the first time he met Joni Mitchell, for example) along with scads of information about the Village folk scene in the ’60s.Dave’s co-author, Elijah Wald did a wonderful job organizing and assembling all the notes, tapes and interviews into a cohesive and wonderful whole. If you liked (hell, even if you didn’t like, or didn’t read) Dylan’s Chronicles Volume 1 you simply must read The Mayor of MacDougal Street. You won’t be sorry.

Webmaster’s note: for more on The Mayor of MacDougal Street, visit Elijah Wald’s web site, and buy the book at Amazon… click here to go directly to the order page.