The Coen Brothers movie Inside Llewyn Davis is loosely based on folk singer Dave Van Ronk, a central figure in the Greenwich Village folk music scene that developed in the early 60s.
Van Ronk never had a hit single or album during five decades of music-making and had slipped into obscurity until his memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street, co-authored by Elijah Wald, was published posthumously in 2005 and provided the catalyst for the new movie.
Trevor Reekie talks to Elijah Wald about Dave Van Ronk.
