In the spring of 1962, Prestige Records produced sessions with Dave Van Ronk, singing and accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. It was prestigious enough, for a scruffy denizen of the cafés of Greenwich Village’s MacDougal Street, to be recorded by the label that released the work of Miles, Monk, Coltrane and many others. But the […]
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How Simple Folk Guitar Accompaniment Really Works
In this video, Folk-blues artist Mokai performs “Poor Lazurus” from the repertoire of 1960s folk-icon, Dave Van Ronk, demonstrating how a simple folk guitar accompaniment works to enhance the drama in telling a story.
Coen Brothers Take on 60s Greenwich Village Folk Scene
Mokai is a devotee of the music and the persona of Dave Van Ronk, hotly anticipating this Coen Brothers’ film “Inside Llyewn Davis” since it was announced a few years ago. The film is loosely based on Van Ronk’s autobiography “The Mayor of MacDougal Street”.
Garrin Benfield – Unbound
I’ve known San Francisco based singer-songwriter Garrin Benfield for some time. In the mid ‘oughties’ (this century has turned out sucky for decade names so far,) we were booked on the same bill at a local SF acoustic music showcase night. At the end of the evening, Garrin and I jumped onstage for an impromptu […]
Obsessed With Guitar
For thousands of years humans have plucked things. Today as ever, the guitar inspires and is an obsession.
The focus of this blog is on fingerstyle acoustic guitar, with an emphasis on old-school fingerpicking and and folk-blues styles originated by the great bluesmen of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
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