People

Blind since childhood, Doc Watson’s phenomenal guitar playing was "discovered" in North Carolina by Ralph Rinzler. A biography of Doc describes his performance as follows: "He sang songs about lost lives and lost loves, murders and muskrats ... bringing the sounds of Appalachia to the North."

Carolyn Hester played the folk circuit in New York, Boston, and Cambridge, and enlisted Bob Dylan to play harmonica on her first LP. She graced the cover of the May 30, 1964 issue of the Saturday Evening Post. In the photo, she is seen with Dick Fariña, who was married to her before he ended up with Joan Baez’ sister, Mimi.

Rolf Cahn was the beloved intellectual and teacher in the core group. An immigrant from Germany, he performed and taught in San Francisco and Berkeley before coming to Cambridge. In the photo, he is playing kazoo, accompanied by Jim Kweskin on the jug, and Debbie Green playing guitar.

The Charles River Valley Boys were four Harvard and MIT students who played bluegrass, old time country and hillbilly music. Its members were (left to right) Bob Siggins, Eric Sackheim, Ethan Signer, and Clay Jackson.

One of the central luminaries in the Boston/Cambridge folk scene, Eric von Schmidt grew up in Westport, Connecticut. He describes the first time he heard Leadbelly on the radio: "This incredible voice ... was honey-smooth, but had the bite of a buzz-saw cutting through a cement block. It was Leadbelly ’live’ and it changed my life."

Jackie Washington was a local Emerson College student with a powerful voice who sang and played guitar. According to Rock n Roll Trip: a Guide to the Shrines and the Legends Across America, "the room [at Club 47] was just too small - when local legend Jackie Washington played, the front window would break from the pressure of the crowd."

The Jim Kweskin Jug Band was a prominent act in town. The band consisted of Jim Kweskin on guitar, Mel Lyman on banjo and harmonica, Fritz Richmond on the washtub bass and jug, Maria Muldaur on fiddle, and Geoff Muldaur on vocals, washboard, and various stringed instruments.

Tom Rush was a student at Harvard in the early sixties who started developing a following at the Unicorn in Boston, where he recorded a live album. He helped launch Joni Mitchell to stardom by covering her songs, in particular, "The Urge for Going."

Muddy Waters was a Chicago bluesman, who as the story goes, insisted on being served a Chivas Regal at Club 47 despite being told that alcohol wasn't served at coffeehouses. He insisted some more, and got his Chivas.

Bill Keith came from Brockton Massachusetts, and defied his family’s expectation that he would follow the traditional path to Harvard Business School and beyond. Instead, he became a banjo virtuoso, and ended up traveling with the king of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, seen behind Keith in the photo.

Betsy Siggins Schmidt, the current executive director of Club Passim, provided the financial and logistical backbone for the scene. She waitressed at the Golden Vanity, housed musicians when they came to town, and eventually managed the Club 47. Joan Baez' roommate at Boston University, Betsy cemented her friendship with Baez when they both refused to wear beanies at a freshman rally.

Taj Mahal, the blues player from Springfield, Massachusetts, who played at Club 47 before becoming famous. Of the 47 he says, "I really appreciated it because it was ... dedicated to the music that people wanted to hear ... there was a total commitment there."