A crucial early influence on Bob Dylan and others of the Greenwich Village school, Van Ronk was at the forefront of a musical generation that drew inspiration from rural blues masters, while creating a solo performance genre popular with urban, college-educated audiences. Beginning in the late 1950’s, he toured widely, performing in coffee houses and campuses. In subsequent years he broadened his repertoire to encompass the traditional jazz influences of his teenage years, art songs by the likes of Bertolt Brecht and Joni Mitchell, and his own compositions, usually marked by an ironic self-deprecation that eschewed sentimentality in favor of hard and beautiful realism. (“From Genghis Khan to the Fuller Brush Man/ They’re all a bunch of losers like me.”) He was also known for his solo guitar arrangements of the work of Jelly Roll Morton and other early twentieth century masters. On his most recent recording, the highly regarded Sweet and Lowdown, he explored popular standards like “As Time Goes By” to the accompaniment of a jazz ensemble.

Familiarly known as “The Mayor of MacDougal Street” (the title of his posthumous memoir, written with Elijah Walk), Van Ronk presided over an apartment that served as hangout pad/salon to peers like Odetta, Tom Paxton and Peter Yarrow, and a virtual graduate school to the next generation of guitarists, some of whom, like Christine Lavin, achieved broad popularity in their own right. Others who acknowledge his influence include Janis Ian, Suzanne Vega, The Roches and members of The Blues Project.

An engaging raconteur and gourmet cook, he enjoyed sipping wine and spinning philosophical tales and aphorisms deep into the night. “Honesty is the cruelest game of all,” he once observed, “Because not only can you hurt someone — and hurt them to the bone — you can feel self-righteous about it at the same time."  Recipient of a Grammy nomination, he was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by ASCAP, the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers.

Van Ronk is survived by his wife Andrea Vuocolo.

Photo credit: Axel Küstner 1985