From the coffeehouses of Greenwich Village to the stage of Woodstock, folksingers became a powerful cultural force in the 1960s, Mixing music and politics, tradition and innovation, romance and righteousness, these men and women were outspoken voices for their generation, each with a story to tell.
The Bleecker Street Tapes -- a collection of intimate profiles and essays by veteran music journalist Bruce Pollock, a Village resident and clubgoer during its heyday -- documents folk music's evolution from passing the hat to topping the charts.
Profiles include
Dave Van Ronk
Phil Ochs
Richie Havens
Tuli Kupferberg
Melanie
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Eric Andersen
Peter, Paul & Mary
Roger McGuinn
John Sebastian
Peter Tork
Maria Muldaur
Loudon Wainwright III
Janis Ian
The Roches
Harry Chapin
Suzanne Vega
Don McLean
Leonard Cohen
"Folk music has a contradictory mission -- to preserve tradition and to screw with it. In his incisive collection of interviews with key folk stars from the '60s through the '80s, Bruce Pollock captures both functions perfectly. His flowing conversations with the stars show the traditions they honored as well as the many ways they pushed them forward."
-- music critic Jim Farber
"Bruce Pollock was in the right place at the right time, and this book is a time capsule from a memorable era."
--Elijah Wald, author of The Mayor of MacDougal Street and Dylan Goes Electric!