Dave Van Ronk was quite the musicologist. His book, The Mayor of MacDougal Street, informs and educates us in-depth about the late 50′s and early 6o’s blues and folk music of the Village. He takes great delight in sharing the time he spent influenced by the Reverend Gary Davis.
Rev. Gary Davis was renowned for his ragtime guitar method. He offered guitar lessons at his New York apartment. Dave Van Ronk was one of his students who carried on the ragtime guitar tradition.
Roy Book Binder was another student of Rev. Gary Davis. Listen to his stories about the impact that Rev. Gary Davis has had on his blues career.
Rev. Gary Davis had a major influence on Hot Tuna and Jorma Kaukonen. Jorma and Jack have played Rev. Gary Davis’s body of work for decades. He does his blues style incredible justice.
Here is my favorite Rev. Gary Davis song by his student Jorma Kaukonen, “I Am The Light of This World” from Quah.
I hope you will seek to learn more about the life and music of Rev. Gary Davis. I suggest visiting a great fan site dedicated to the blues legend, http://reverendgarydavis.com/index.htm
This YouTube video was filmed for his Folk Alliance International Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

Related articles
- Inside Llewyn Davis and Dave Van Ronk (musicofourheart.me)
- Dave Van Ronk, The Anthology of Folk Music by Harry Smith (musicofourheart.me)
Two 12″ 180-gram vinyl LPs in an individually numbered gatefold jacket – Amazing studio demos chronicling the early years of the American bluesman Taj Mahal.
12″ 180-gram vinyl in an individually numbered jacket – Taj Mahal’s breathtaking second album, originally released in 1968, showcased a band featuring Al Kooper and Jesse Ed Davis while introducing a generation to deep blues classics like “Corinna,” “She Caught the Katy (and Left Me a Mule to Ride),” and “The Cuckoo.”
Gary Clark Jr.


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The blues is alive and working its unique magic. Very soon the streets and clubs on 



