Down in Washington Square: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection

Dave Van Ronk

Photo by Diana Davies, courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.

Down In Washington Square - The Smithsonian Folkways Collection album cover.

Dave Van Ronk (early in career) by Aaron Rennert and Ray Sullivan for Photo-Sound Associates, in the Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dave Van Ronk performing late in career (exact year unknown).

Photo courtesy Andrea Vuocolo.

Dave Van Ronk at the 1968 Philadelphia Folk Festival.

Photo by Diana Davies, courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.

Dave Van Ronk at the 1968 Philadelphia Folk Festival. Photo by Diana Davies, courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.

Called “The Mayor of MacDougal Street,” Dave Van Ronk (1936-2002) was a leading figure in the Greenwich Village music scene for more than four decades. He epitomized the urban “folksinger”— apprenticing through immersion in the music revival’s New York City epicenter of Washington Square Park. Drawing from and developing a wide repertoire of songs, guitar techniques, and performing skills, he mentored younger musicians and songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Jack Hardy, Suzanne Vega, Christine Lavin, and many others. Down in Washington Square includes 16 never-before-released recordings coupled with tracks from the Smithsonian Folkways archive, spanning early live recordings made in 1958 (one year before his first Folkways album) to his final studio recordings in 2001, just months before his death. It paints a musical mosaic of Van Ronk’s artistry and expands his legacy, keeping alive the genius of a legendary performer who inspired audiences, musicians, and a major motion picture — Inside Llewyn Davis, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Three CD box set, 54 tracks, nearly three hours of music, 40-page booklet with extensive notes.

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Mean Old Frisco

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Track Listing

101	Duncan and Brady	Dave Van Ronk	3:06
102	River Come Down (Bamboo)	Dave Van Ronk	3:48
103	Spike Driver Blues	Dave Van Ronk	3:15
104	John Henry	Dave Van Ronk	2:29
105	Backwater Blues	Dave Van Ronk	3:04
106	K.C. Moan	Dave Van Ronk	3:03
107	Haul on the Bowline	Dave Van Ronk	1:21
108	Just a Closer Walk with Thee	Dave Van Ronk	3:03
109	Gambler’s Blues	Dave Van Ronk	2:46
110	Sweet Substitute	Dave Van Ronk	2:34
111	Bed Bug Blues	Dave Van Ronk	2:48
112	Winin’ Boy	Dave Van Ronk	2:40
113	Georgie and the IRT	Dave Van Ronk	3:33
114	Betty and Dupree	Dave Van Ronk	3:38
115	Come Back, Baby	Dave Van Ronk	3:55
116	My Baby’s So Sweet	Dave Van Ronk	2:36
117	Black Mountain Blues	Dave Van Ronk	4:04
118	Yas-Yas-Yas	Dave Van Ronk	2:06
201	Willie the Weeper	Dave Van Ronk	2:51
202	Dink’s Song	Dave Van Ronk	3:46
203	Santy Anno	Dave Van Ronk	1:46
204	Leave Her, Johnny	Dave Van Ronk	1:31
205	Tell Old Bill	Dave Van Ronk	4:30
206	Careless Love	Dave Van Ronk	2:58
207	Standing by My Window	Dave Van Ronk	4:58
208	Please See My Grave Is Kept Clean	Dave Van Ronk	2:58
209	Had More Money	Dave Van Ronk	3:09
210	If You Leave Me, Pretty Mama	Dave Van Ronk	3:09
211	Hesitation Blues	Dave Van Ronk	2:35
212	In the Pines	Dave Van Ronk	3:09
213	Oh, What a Beautiful City	Dave Van Ronk	3:16
214	Mean Old Frisco	Dave Van Ronk	2:57
215	Stackalee	Dave Van Ronk	2:46
216	How Long	Dave Van Ronk	3:52
217	Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down	Dave Van Ronk	4:53
218	House of the Rising Sun	Dave Van Ronk	6:10
301	Hootchie Kootchie Man	Dave Van Ronk	3:15
302	Reckless Blues	Dave Van Ronk	2:31
303	Trouble in Mind	Dave Van Ronk	2:26
304	Oh Lord, Search My Heart	Dave Van Ronk	3:57
305	God Bless the Child	Dave Van Ronk	3:18
306	Losers	Dave Van Ronk	3:18
307	Another Time and Place	Dave Van Ronk	4:30
308	Garden State Stomp	Dave Van Ronk	2:52
309	Motherless Children	Dave Van Ronk	3:13
310	Don’t You Leave Me Here (I'm Alabama Bound)	Dave Van Ronk	4:43
311	Spike Driver Blues	Dave Van Ronk	6:50
312	Down South Blues	Dave Van Ronk	5:12
313	St. James Infirmary (Gambler’s Blues)	Dave Van Ronk	4:26
314	Ace in the Hole	Dave Van Ronk	4:23
315	Going Down Slow	Dave Van Ronk	3:29
316	Buckets of Rain	Dave Van Ronk	3:55
317	Jelly Jelly	Dave Van Ronk	3:03
318	Sometime (Whatcha Gonna Do)	Dave Van Ronk	2:37