Music + Revolution: Greenwich Village in the 1960s

Every page of Richard BARONE’s well researched book is riveting! I absolutely loved every page. He knows almost everyone in the music scene and was able to interview over 70 musicians who were an integral part of the scene as well as music industry people during the pandemic when he was able to write it with everyone home and available. Richard is a great musician, producer & professor as well as an excellent author. It starts out with the history of Greenwich Village, where he lives, from 1643-1939, where the folk story begins. However, the book chronicles 1960’s, and mostly early to mid 60’s. He touches on the late 60’s. You get to hear about so many musicians who became famous like Richie Havens to John Sebastian, and Buffy St. Marie to name a few. He knows so many of them and has worked with quite a few since Richard also produces concerts. So, it’s exciting to read and learn about singers I never heard of as well who recorded and sang in the Village then like Paul Clayton. It was a small scene yet widely known and inspired the LA Laurel Canyon music scene. The photos are fabulous too. I loved this book and didn’t want it to end.

Gift that the recipient found to be a great read. Some history of that musical era that she had never known. Gave some insight to the characters that populated the Village and their interactions.

Excellently written book about this important period in music history. It's well-researched and accurate. I grew up in New York in the 60s and attended performances in coffee houses and concert halls of many of the artists mentioned. You also get an idea of the atmosphere of this New York neighborhood. What happened here would influence much of the music and politics of the country. Steve Goldston

Wonderful stories, and s well written, a great read!

I RECEIVED MY BOOK. THANKS!!!!!!!

HEADS UP…A BOOK REVIEW OF WHAT IN MY HUMBLE OPINION IS A MUST READ! Just finished a book by Richard Barone MUSIC & REVOLUTION - Greenwich Village in the 1960s. In a word it is SPECTACULAR. I have known Richard for a number of year through mutual friends and whenever our paths have crossed he is always a kind and gracious guy. I was excited to read his book as Greenwich Village in the 60s is one of my passions. And as many of you know I was an educator for 35 years and have been a musician for even longer….so I believe that gives me some qualifications to write this review! Well….THE BOOK IS A STUNNER!! It is masterfully written and a must read for anyone who loves music! Huge props to Richard for undertaking such daunting project. His background as musician and teacher is well documented (Google his long list of musical accomplishments and projects). MUSIC & REVOLUTION IS a book that is so complete and organized in an easy to read fashion and full of information that connects all the pieces of that time period. The book also details how the music of that time period clearly informs music from that point on. Richard provides rich details, along with personal anecdotes, that fill in all the gaps of what was going on both musically and socially in Greenwich Village. His perspective is also unique BECAUSE he is a musician along with being a writer….so his insights are that of someone in the “music club”. It not only documents the time but acts as a blueprint to enable us to further explore in any number of directions. That exploration could take a lifetime…good way to spend it….or the book itself will give plenty of the information which critical for all to understand how we got to where we are today musically and culturally….AND all in one book!!!! No easy task for sure! When I showed my wife my copy of the book after I had read it….her comment was that the only time she had seen so many dog ears was at the Westminster Kennel Show on TV! When I’m reading a book, I do have the habit of dog earring pages of I find interesting or important….this book has many as evidenced by the attached pics. Really check out this book and again thanks to Richard for all his efforts in bringing this book to us…..well worth it all around!

So good! Thoroughly researched. Fills in all the blanks of this extraordinarily eventful time in music history. Barone, as a successful singer-songwriter himself, understands what we are curious to know and through extensive interviews learns and shares the threads between major and minor characters that co-created this important time in the evolution of music and activism. – Joziah Longo, The Slambovian Circus of Dreams

I was part of the folk music world of the ‘60s that Richard Barone writes about, and I know a lot about it. But, Richard Barone incorporates a massive amount of new, interesting, accurate information into his book, and writes about it in a way that takes me viscerally and happily back to my former home. When I read music + revolution: Greenwich Village in the 1960s, I find myself excited about my past milieu. It was a creative time in which we amalgamated music, politics, and new social mores and actually affected social change, and the book brings you into it. I’ve given music + revolution: Greenwich Village in the 1960s to friends who have become envious of those of us who lived in that fifty-years-ago world; I recommend it to anyone who wants to know who we were and what we did.