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The history of one of New York Citys most vibrant havens for musicians and artists from Dave Van Ronk, Sonny Rollins andBob DylantoShawn ColvinandSuzanne Vega will be chronicled in the new book,Talkin Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of Americas Bohemian Music Capital, byRolling Stonesenior writerDavid Browne.
Out Sept. 17 via Hachette Books (and available topre-ordernow), the book traces the rise and heyday of neighborhoods music community, where art, bohemian culture, and politics collided for much of the second half of the 20th century.
Bob Dylan performing at the Greenwich Village club, the BItter End, in 1961.Sigmund Goode/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images
Focusing on the Fifties through the Eighties,Talkin Greenwich Villagewill dig into the scenes origins in the late 1950s as a young generation of musicians, poets, and artists flocked to the neighborhood at a fraught moment in New York City history, marred by racial tensions and police crackdowns.
Over the next several decades, the art that came out of Greenwich Village would spread around the world and have a massive effect on popular music and culture.
As the book explores, the scene began to falter in the mid-Eighties as storied venues like Gerdes Folk City finally closed to mark the end of an era.
Browne interviewed over 150 people for the book, including Village denizens like Vega, Colvin,Herbie Hancock, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Sonny Rollins, Ramblin Jack Elliott, Carolyn Hester, Joan Baez, John Sebastian, Terre and Suzzy Roche, Steve Forbert, Christopher Guest, David Johansen, and members of the Blues Project.
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Other tales will center around John Belushi, Patti Smith, and the creation of the Village People; the falafel shop that played a major role in the Eighties folk revival; and the creation of era-defining songs like Dylans Blowin In the Wind, Eric Andersens Thirsty Boots, and Vegas Luka.
Talkin Greenwich Villagefollows Brownes2019s book,Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young: The Wild, Definitive Saga of Rocks Greatest Supergroup.
Hes also written biographies ofthe Grateful Dead, Sonic Youth, and Jeff and Tim Buckley, whilehis bookFire and Rainexamined the year 1970 through the lens of the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, and CSN&Y.
