Talkin' Greenwich Village

The definitive history of the revolutionary Greenwich Village music scene, which fostered some of the most iconic musicians in American history--and fought for its identity every step of the way.

Although Greenwich Village takes up less than a square mile in downtown New York, rarely has such a concise area supported and nurtured so many groundbreaking artists and genres. Over the course of decades, Billie Holiday, the Weavers, Sonny Rollins, Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, Herbie Hancock, the Blues Project, and Suzanne Vega are just a few who realized the Village was a sanctuary for outsiders and those who wanted to invent or reinvent themselves. Those musicians, and so many more, used the Village's smokey coffeehouses and clubs to chronicle the tumultuous Sixties, rewrite jazz history, and take rock & roll into eclectic places it hadn't been before.

Based on new interviews with surviving participants, previously unseen and unheard archives, and author David Browne's years immersed in the scene, Talkin' Greenwich Village lends the saga the epic, panoramic scope it has long deserved. It takes readers from the Fifties fountain sessions in Washington Square Park and into landmark venues like the Gaslight and the Village Vanguard, with stops along the way into the scene's carousing Seventies years (National Lampoon's Lemmings), and Dylan's momentous arrival and numerous returns. In eye-opening fashion, the book chronicles the overlooked people of color who sang alongside Dylan and his peers, reveals how the federal and city government consistently kept its eye on the community and artists like Van Ronk, unearths new aspects of the infamous "beatnik riot" in Washington Square Park, and tells the never-told stories of the falafel restaurant that begat a new community in the Eighties scene and the beloved sister band the Roches, who laid the groundwork for so many of today's female singer-songwriters.

In also chronicling the racial tensions, ongoing crackdowns and changes in New York and music that infiltrated the neighborhood, Talkin' Greenwich Village is more than just vivid music history. It also tells the story of the heyday and waning of bohemian culture in America, set to some of the most enduring words, folk songs and jazz jams in music history.

"[A] brilliantly-detailed history of a unique urban space... [and a] well-crafted chronology."--Rock and the Beat Generation
"Browne weaves a tale of perseverance and resistance, of energetic upstarts simply seeking a space to exist."--Mojo
"Through an abundance of meticulous research and interviews, Browne conjures up a real sense of what such a breeding ground was like in the 1960s."--Irish Times
"Browne's book is akin to the Laurel Canyon books and documentaries about the Los Angeles scene so popular in recent years ... A rich read you won't be able to put down."--Showbiz411.com
"Endless wonderful stories and a few elegiac sentences that can stick in your mind ... One of the great virtues of David Browne's book is that it will, courtesy of the phone in your hand, take you back to songs you might not have heard for decades, or lead you to listen to the music he writes about for the first time."--Greil Marcus, "Real Life Rock Top 10."
"There's been a lot of books about New York City, but only a few capture the elusive flavor of the Big Apple like Joseph Mitchell's Up in the Old Hotel, Patti Smith's Just Kids, Herbert Asbury's The Gangs of New York or Robert A. Caro's The Power Broker. You can now add David Browne's stunning Talkin' Greenwich Village to that list. ... His unerring reportage always reads like a good novel. His attention-to-detail is impeccable. And his insight is well-earned."--The Jersey Sound
"Browne gives valuable insight into the people - such as Van Ronk - who are not necessarily household names, yet heavily influenced the Village social scene's look, feel, and sound..."--Amy McGrath Hughes Substack
"Browne leaves few stones unturned to present a panoramic vision of this music mecca."--Toronto Star
"Expertly told, packed with head-turning detail and local color."--The Spectator
"Fascinating and meticulously researched"--Best Classic Bands
"Sprawling yet intimate ... colorful and exquisitely detailed"--No Depression
"A thorough and thoroughly human history of a unique locale and era."--Library Journal
"For anyone who has ever spent time wandering the streets of Greenwich Village, Talkin' Greenwich Village by David Browne is like stepping back in time. It revisits the places and moments that made this small area in downtown New York so legendary. Greenwich Village has always been a haven for artists, rebels, and visionaries, and Browne captures the essence of that spirit beautifully... Ultimately, Talkin' Greenwich Village is more than just a music scene history--it's a tribute to a place that has inspired generations of artists and continues to do so today. Whether you've spent time in the Village or just discovered its magic, this book will make you feel like you're walking down MacDougal Street, soaking in the creative energy that has always defined Greenwich Village. Browne's engaging writing style and thorough research make this a must-read for anyone who loves music, history, or just a good story about a place that has shaped many lives, including mine."--Rock n Roll Highway
"Evocative prose enlivens this captivating ode to a storied chapter of pop culture history."--Publishers Weekly
"I was one of countless Midwestern kids who grew up fantasizing about Greenwich Village, and David Browne reminded me why. Talkin' Greenwich Village is a cultural, social, and--above all--musical history of the fabled neighborhood that's known around the world as Ground Zero for generations of beatniks, hippies, and misfits. Thoroughly reported and lovingly told, Browne's book chronicles the evolution of America's bohemian paradise."--Alan Light, author of The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah"
"Not just a crackerjack music writer, David Browne is also a sharp-eyed cultural historian and social critic, and it's this combination of virtues that makes Talkin' Greenwich Village such a bracing read. Browne's story of New York's folk and jazz communities, and the interwoven lives of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday and Shawn Colvin, among so many others, describes not just the music but the countercultural spirit that enlivened and then altered the course of American culture."--Peter Ames Carlin, author of Bruce and The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.
". . . a teeming history of Greenwich Village. . . . Steeped in music culture and lore, Browne offers a detailed, abundantly populated chronicle of a storied place and its creative, outspoken, driven inhabitants."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Talkin' Greenwich Village maps a matrix of artistry spanning generations and genres, with special focus on the 'folk revival' that launched Dylan and continues to revive itself in new shapes. You want to understand how deep and wide New York music history is? You need to spend time here."--Will Hermes, author of Lou Reed: The King of New York and Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York City That Changed Music Forever
"Deeply researched and deftly written, this entertaining chronicle of the Village music scene sheds light on groundbreaking performative genres: from the Beats' spoken word to new forms of jazz, from the evolution of folk to plugged-in blues rock and punk. In the back rooms and on makeshift stages of coffeehouses and nightclubs, eccentricity and creativity flourish, while threats from city (and FBI) officials and disgruntled neighbors constantly hover. It's a fascinating story!"--Holly George-Warren, author of Janis: Her Life and Music and A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton
"For most of the 20th century, Greenwich Village existed as a liberating antidote to mainstream American society. David Browne's Talkin' Greenwich Village is a masterful, incisive recounting of the fertile creative life south of 14th St. that transmitted cultural alternatives to the nation and the world."--Dennis McNally, author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
"There have been numerous Greenwich Villages over the decades, several of them extant at any one time. David Browne knows them all, block by block, but he also knows their tales, told and untold, especially the musical ones, which his book divulges with unsentimental sympathy. It's an amazing account of a singular place, a treat for every Villager whether in fact or in spirit."--Sean Wilentz, author of Bob Dylan in America and The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln

David Browne is a senior writer at Rolling Stone and the author of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, So Many Roads, and Fire and Rain, as well as biographies of Sonic Youth and Jeff and Tim Buckley. He lives in Manhattan.

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