INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS directed by Ethan & Joel Coen (USA, 2013)
Dave Van Ronk is to Bob Dylan what Antonio Salieri was to Mozart. Salieri was popular during his lifetime but his music is rarely performed now.
Van Ronk was a prominent performer in the Greenwich Village during the 1960s but is not so widely known now. Mozart’s genius is now taken for granted and despite having “a voice like sand and glue” (to borrow David Bowie’s words) Dylan is the most influential singer songwriter of all time.
Van Ronk had a pretty good voice, some decent songs but, until now, has been confined to a footnote in the folk history books; a nearly man popular only among purists. Ironically, his standing may now be reassessed following the Coen Brothers movie even though this is not billed as a bio-pic and the depiction of a struggling artist is far from glamorous. Continue reading
