This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #108 (October/November 2003). The magazine is available on newsstands and by subscription.

Richie Havens
The Guitar Style of
Richie Havens
Homespun DVD-HAV-GT21 (2002); $29.95
Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn's
Basic Folk Guitar
Homespun DVD-GUI-FS21 (2003); $29.95
Learning to play the guitar is never an easy task. You can read all of the manuals you want, but if you don't feel any real connections with the music you're playing, it's all for naught. The underlying philosophy behind these instructional tapes is simple: If you know the music of the artists you love, you can also learn to play their songs. Be your own cover band as you rip through Havens' "God Bless the Child," "Just Like a Woman," and "Here Comes the Sun" or McGuinn's "Spanish is the Loving Tongue," "All My Trails," and "Off to Sea Once More." Both instructional DVDs feature easy arrangements on tablature for those who need to see those notes and chords on the printed line.
Havens gives you the inside scoop on his singular trademark tuning (DADF#AD) which he calls "open D," and then takes you through his particular chording methods. Once you get the hang of stretching your thumb over most of the strings of the fret, you're in business. Artie Traum, the host, asks questions of Havens pertaining to his strumming and vocalization styles, and there are some interesting autobiographical comments on his early days as a struggling Greenwich Village folkie. Songs like "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "High Flying Bird" are performed slowly, with Havens giving commentary on how they are structured and arranged.
The McGuinn disc is especially interesting, and not just because he's decked out entirely in black with a funky hat. He mentions that he "tunes down" to E-flat in standard tuning to accommodate his vocal range. With a split screen and many close-ups of his guitar work, you can follow along easily enough as he leads you through his fingerpicking style (flat-pick and two finger picks) on his favorite folk songs like "Buffalo Skinners" and "The Water is Wide." McGuinn's aware that most of the audience here are first-timers, so he goes slowly over the chord and melody changes, making sure nobody is left behind. A real bonus here is McGuinn's famous Byrds song "Chestnut Mare" done on his 12-string acoustic as a closing piece to this collection.
— T.J. McGrath (Woodbridge, CT)

Paul Brady
The Paul Brady Songbook
Compass 7 4358 2 (2003), CD
Paul Brady
The Paul Brady Songbook
Compass 7 4359 9 (2003), DVD
If you missed the six-part series featuring Paul Brady and his music on Irish Public Television back in 2002, here's your chance to catch up. Whether it's traditional Irish folk, blue-eyed soul, funky blues, or straight-ahead pop, Brady has the goods, which may account for the fact that he is a sell-out performer in the British Isles. Fans won't be disappointed, for the DVD, for instance, has more than three hours of live performances, interviews, and archival footage with 32 songs packed in. Filmed in Marlay House in Dublin's Rathfarnham over two weeks, the six segments are grouped around song themes ("Crazy Dreams," "I Want You to Want Me," "Luck of the Draw," "The Future Through the Past," "When I Began to First Get Restless," and "Dreams Will Come") that help integrate Brady's 30 years in the music business with his brilliantly crafted words and music. Special guests like Mary Black, Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine, and Curtis Stigers add star-luster as they work in tandem with Brady as he performs, but they never overshadow the boss of Donegal. For those without big screens and DVD players, the CD catches some of the audio action and throws in a new song "The Hawana Way" to keep the Brady bunch tickled pink.
— T.J. McGrath (Woodbridge, CT)

Dave Van Ronk
The Concert at The Bottom Line, June 2, 2001
Rounder/Vestapol DVD 13093 (2002)
The music of Dave Van Ronk that I first encountered was the old-timey jazz and Tin Pan Alley tunes of the 1920s and 30s that engaged him during the last years of his career. Working my way backward, I became aware and increasingly appreciative of his pivotal place in the development of the folk and blues tradition during the late 1950s and 60s, which helped shape New York City. To talk about traditional music in this century is to talk about Dave Van Ronk. In the spring of 2001, Van Ronk asked Stefan Grossman to organize the filming of the performance captured on this disc. Eight months later, Van Ronk passed away; he was just 65. Whether he felt his time here slipping away, I guess we'll never know. However, the musician on this DVD is not at the top of his game. Van Ronk's vocals had lost their growl and his breathing had become labored, clearly audible over the strains of his still-deft acoustic picking. The performance features just Van Ronk and his guitar, and while interesting versions of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out" and Tom Paxton's "Did You Hear John Hurt" are offered, the pleasure to be had from this recording comes from the interview segments that separate the musical performances (14 songs, plus two guitar instruction pieces shoehorned in from a past Dave Van Ronk Guitar Workshop title). During these candid moments, Van Ronk talks of his own development as a performer and that of the explosive Greenwich Village folk scene. Van Ronk was a fixture in the neighborhood (known as the Mayor of MacDougal Street), and knew, influenced, and played with most of the musicians coming of age during that time, including Peter Yarrow and Bob Dylan. His vibrant and detailed stories, told in his raspy, professorial manner, are rich with color and life. It is this aspect of the DVD that makes it a worthwhile find for anyone with an interest in hearing tales from this part of music's history from a man who was there.
— John Bobey (New York, NY)

Chulas Fronteras and Del Mero Corazon