Review

"Let's all pick up our silver daggers and plunge them into our lily white breasts."
Presiding over the "hoot" nights at the Gaslight Café, Dave Van Ronk became known as the "Mayor of MacDougal Street." As the Godfather of "The Urban Folk Scare," he nurtured a whole new wave of folk talent as they swarmed the streets of the Village in the early '60s, most notable among them Bob Dylan, not only with three hots and a cot, but also with a repertoire as vast and knowing as the man with the growl and the cowlick himself. This 25-track set from 1962 captures his most typical resounding performances, from the aching "Cocaine Blues" to the boisterous "Brian O'Lynne." If Dave got "He Was a Friend of Mine" from Dylan, compare Van Ronk's version of "Moonshiner" with the version Dylan sang at the Gaslight circa 1962. At turns tender, gruff and stark raving mad, Van Ronk's sly humor is as controlled as his dexterity as he advises a generation: "Let's all pick up our silver daggers and plunge them into our lily white breasts."