Dave Van Ronk | In The Tradition (LP)

In the Tradition was a little strange for an early Dave Van Ronk LP, with the album split evenly between tracks on which the singer is backed by the Dixieland jazz-style combo the Red Onions and by more customary acoustic folk-blues solo guitar. Both of those styles were part of his persona, though it's the more somber acoustic folk-blues that stand out more. It's a reasonably strong album, not too much different from much of the rest of his catalog, other than in the balanced mixture between jazz and folk approaches. Of the trad jazz cuts, the item that might attract the most collector interest is the jaunty "All Over You," which is certainly one of the most obscure (and atypical) early Bob Dylan covers; Dylan would never release his own version, though a demo he did of the tune in 1963 has appeared on bootlegs. It's not much of a song, but its basic joie de vivre fits in well with the jazz segment of this program, on which Van Ronk's gravelly vocals credibly echo (especially for a white singer) the spirit of early New Orleans jazz vocalists like Louis Armstrong. Among the acoustic numbers are "Green, Green Rocky Road" and "Rocks and Gravel," both of which would be recorded by several other major talents of the '60s folk scene.

Tracklist

A1        Cake Walking Babies From Home
A2        Ace In The Hole
A3        St. Louis Tickle
A4        Death Letter Blues
A5        If I Had To Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You
A6        Whoa Back Buck
B1        Sister Kate
B2        Kansas City Blues
B3        Green Rocky Road
B4        See See Rider
B5        Rocks And Gravel
B6        Hesitation Blues

*Audio and/or tracklist may vary slightly from the vinyl version.

Label: Dol
Rel. Date:06/24/2014
UPC: 889397314637

• Genre: Singer/Songwriter
• Format: Vinyl
• Format Detail: LP