Stefan, thanks for posting the link to your website. I have just begun to investigate it, and so far, I've found much interesting information. Thank you for your good work.

Barbara Dane may not be as famous as some, but she was a major player in the folk music revival, beginning in the Fifties. Although she specialized in blues (and one hell of a blues singer she was!), she had a large repertoire of non-blues folk songs and she sounded great singing anything. I had the privilege of meeting her in the early Sixties (I can't remember right now exactly which year). Bob Newhart did a stand-up comedy "concert" at Seattle's no longer existing Orpheum Theatre, and Barbara Dane was his opening act. She had a couple of other musicians with her, including Dick Rosmini who backed her on guitar and 5-string banjo. I knew Dick Rosmini from a few years before, and he got me in backstage. The ultimate result was that after the concert Barbara Dane, Dick Rosmini, a couple dozen of Seattle's folksingers and folk music enthusiasts wound up at a fraternity house north of the University of Washington (one of my guitar students was a member) for an all-night songfest. Barbara wanted to meet and hear some of the local crew, and because she'd only had a chance to sing five or six songs on the Orpheum stage, she felt like singing, especially in an informal situation. And sing she did! It was a fantastic, unforgettable session. We all got to the frat house at about 11:00 p.m., and at about six or clock in the morning a half dozen of us, including Barbara, went to an all-night restaurant for breakfast. While we were waiting for our orders, she scribbled out the words to a couple of songs she sang that I was interested in. She was a great singer and one terrific lady!

53, I assume from your response that you've never heard her. That's too bad. Do yourself a favor: contrived somehow to hear her and educate yourself.

Don Firth