Dave Van Ronk did as much as anyone to midwife and instill quality control in the urban folk boom of the early '60s, and his death in 2002 signaled for many the passing of an era. Now Smithsonian Folkways has issued his last concert, held in October 2001 in Takoma Park, and from the opening song, a delicately sung version of
Scrapper Blackwell's "Down South Blues," it is obvious that listeners are in the midst of an autumnal performance.
Van Ronk's deliberate jazz phrasing is still there, as are the signature guitar skills, but the gruff power in his voice is all but gone, replaced by a soft, hoarse whisper, and there are many times when you can hear his difficulty drawing breath in the spaces between singing. All of this brings a tremendous intimacy and poignancy to several of the songs here, and the hushed delivery gives songs like
Len Chandler and
Bob Kaufman's "Green, Green Rocky Road" an uncommon power to connect. The between-song comments by
Van Ronk (who had just learned of his cancer diagnosis prior to the show) reveal an intelligent, humorous man with a tremendous passion for music, particularly jazz, and a hornman's sense of timing. Every song here carries a graceful sense of urgency, but
Van Ronk's versions of Jimmie Cox's "Nobody Knows You (When You're Down and Out)" and
Tom Paxton's "Did You Hear John Hurt?" are particularly powerful, and on the former song,
Van Ronk sounds remarkably like
Louis Armstrong or a casually relaxed and resigned
Tom Waits. Newcomers to
Van Ronk's music should probably sample his earlier albums first, since they give a clearer version of this performer in his prime, but longtime friends and fans will find the dignity, grace, and intimacy of this last show to be a very special farewell. ~ Steve Leggett