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THE MAYOR OF MACDOUGAL STREET: RARITIES 1957-1969
ROOTSTOCK
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This companion CD to Van Ronk’s posthumous memoir shows the Greenwich Village folkie as an all-inclusive songcatcher for whom "Americana" included everything from Jelly Roll Morton ("Buddy Bolden’s Blues") to politicized bluegrass (Roy Berkeley’s "Way Down in Lubyanka Prison") to Brecht/Weill ("As You Make Your Bed"). But they’re all of a piece, married in Van Ronk’s sophisticated raspy delivery and ineffable interpretive sense. He plays Muddy Waters’ "Two Trains Running" solo on acoustic guitar and slowed way down, but the groove is deathless, and so is the bent-note figure he uses to cap every chorus. He returns Leonard Cohen’s "Bird on a Wire" and Joni Mitchell’s "Both Sides Now" to their rough-hewn coffeehouse source; he delivers haunting renderings of folk numbers like "All My Trials" and "The Butcher Boy" (one of two a cappella performances). The only dated pieces are his own over-the-top "In Conditional Support of Beauty" and the honky-tonk rocker "Romping through the Swamp." A comment on authenticity, the joke song "Shaving Cream" works despite itself. The recording quality is rough — apartment and club performances — but the muffled sound of traffic rumbling by Van Ronk’s apartment window feels just right.
