The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #141658 Message #3262228
Posted By: Will Fly
23-Nov-11 - 02:29 PM
Thread Name: Josh Rifkin, Dave Van Ronk, and others
Subject: RE: Josh Rifkin, Dave Van Ronk, and others
As far as I'm concerned, the real pioneers of ragtime guitar - inspired and urged on by Van Ronk were Dave Laibman and his cousin Eric Schoenberg. Their "New Ragtime Guitar" album of 1971 was, for me, a seminal album. Laibman dipped out of the spotlight to pursue an academic career for many years, while Schoenberg set up as a guitar maker.
I heard an amateur recording of Laibman - made when he was an exchange student at Oxford (UK) - where he was playing "Orange Blossom Special" with alternating bass at breakneck speed. Astounding. And I believe it was a certain Mr. Greg Stephens of Boat Band fame and Mudcat who played that recording to me in his flat in Lancaster...