Elijah Wald – Presents “Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village”, a Historical Concert with musician and author of Dylan Goes Electric!, the book that inspired the hit movie A Complete Unknown

Elijah Wald, musician and author of Dylan Goes Electric!, the book that inspired the hit movie A Complete Unknown, presents an evening of music and stories tracing Dylan’s early years in New York.

Elijah Wald brings Bob Dylan’s early Greenwich Village years to life through music and stories in Bob Dylan in Greenwich Village, a historical concert tracing Dylan’s arrival in New York in 1961 through his emergence as a major musical voice. A musician, author, guitarist, singer, and raconteur, Wald draws on his own connections to the folk scene and friendships with figures including Dave Van Ronk and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. The program moves from traditional folk and blues songs to early Dylan compositions and familiar classics.

An evening of music, history, and firsthand stories of the early days of 1960s Folk Scene in the intimate setting of Godfrey Daniels.

Dylan arrived in Greenwich Village in 1961 and joined a vibrant musical world from which he emerged as one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. An expert guitarist, singer, and raconteur, Elijah brings audiences into that world, tracing Dylan’s progress as he met and traded songs with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Odetta, Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Eric Von Schmidt, Jean Ritchie, and others.

Elijah is the author of both Dylan Goes Electric! and Dave Van Ronk’s memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street, which inspired the Coen Brothers movie, Inside Llewyn Davis. He grew up on the folk scene and was friends with many of the people in this program, hanging out with Elliott, performing with Von Schmidt, and becoming particularly close with Van Ronk, whose couch served both him and Dylan as a frequent resting place (though not the same nights).

This program follows Dylan from his arrival in New York through the moment when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. It ranges from old folk songs (“The Cuckoo,” “Nottamun Town”) to obscure early Dylan compositions (“The Old Man,” “If I had to Do It All Over Again”) and familiar masterpieces (“Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Masters of War,” “Mr. Tambourine Man”), tied together with stories about Dylan’s friends and influences and tracing his development from a raw folk and blues singer into the voice of a generation.

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Elijah Wald has been performing for almost fifty years, playing blues, folk, ragtime, swing, cowboy songs, classic Swahili pop, the Bahamian style of Joseph Spence, Mexican corridos, and various other oddities. His mentors include Howard Armstrong, the legendary Black string band master, with whom he toured for five years; Dave Van Ronk, a close friend and teacher with whom he wrote Dave's memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street (which inspired the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis); and Jean-Bosco Mwenda, the father of Congolese acoustic guitar. He has written a dozen books, including biographies of Josh White, Robert Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, and Dylan Goes Electric (the source for the movie A Complete Unknown), and won a 2002 Grammy. He has toured all over the US and around the world, and his shows blend music and stories from a wide range of people and places in a compellingly personal style.