I first heard about Dave Van Ronk at the 1964 Mariposa Folk Festival. I met a fellow whose name I can't recall and he was singing and playing Cocaine Blues. I asked him about it and he told me to get the
Dave Van Ronk, Folk Singer LP.
My brother Bob and I taught ourselves to fingerpick using that Dave Van Ronk LP and Libba Cotten's
Negro Folk Songs & Tunes LP.
I was browsing through the Mariposa Archives website a few years ago and was surprised to find this photo from the Toronto Telegram newspaper with the caption, "Four young men, one with guitar". I'd never seen this photo before, but the young man with the Buddy Holly glasses is me, behind me is my brother Bob, beside me is my friend Dennis and holding the J-50 is the guy who introduced me to the music of Dave Van Ronk.
I did get a chance to see Dave perform and to shake his hand and thank him for the wonderful music and the inspiration. Dave would be 84 today.