Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years [Paperback]

Eric Von Schmidt (Author), Jim Rooney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 1994

Long out of print, Baby, Let Me Follow You Down is a classic in the history of American popular culture. The book tells the story of the folk music community in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from its beginnings in living rooms and Harvard Square coffeehouses in the late 1950s to the heyday of the folk music revival in the early 1960s. Hundreds of historical photographs, rescreened for this edition, and dozens of interviews combine to re-create the years when Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and a lively band of Cambridge folksingers led a generation in the rediscovery of American folk music. Compiled by two musicians who were active participants in the Cambridge folk scene, the volume documents a special time in United States culture when the honesty and vitality of traditional folk music were combined with the raw power of urban blues and the high energy of electric rock and roll to create a new American popular music.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A great history of the classic 1960s Boston folk scene by two of those who made it classic. --staff pick, New England FolkWaves

A lavish, comprehensive portrait of a particular place and time that shaped so much of the folk scene community today. . . . A masterpiece of oral history [that] demands a position on any folkie's must read list. --Folk Alliance Newsletter

About the Author

Eric von Schmidt, who died in 2007, was a singer-songwriter, painter, and graphic artist. He recorded seven solo albums and was the author of four children's books. Author of Bossmen: Bill Monroe and Muddy Waters, Jim Rooney is a music producer who has worked with Nanci Griffith, John Prine, Iris De Ment, Tom Paxton, Hal Ketchum, and others. In the early 1960s he managed the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge and was a director and talent coordinator of the Newport Folk Festival.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Univ. of Massachusetts Press; 2 edition (July 30, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870239252
• ISBN-13: 978-0870239250
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #828,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, if a bit flawed, must-have for any folkie., January 15, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years (Paperback)

R. Serge Denisoff, editor of Popular Music and Society, called this oral history seriously flawed, noting that the persons quoted are not always properly identified, and their statements (at least one of them wrong) are occasionally presented unquoted, as fact. My own gripe, which applies to so many miserable books on popular music, is: Here's a wonderful, rich account, chock-full of hundreds of names, and no index to let ya locate 'em again. Nevertheless, for any folkie, it's an absolute must-have, which defrosts the legendary goings-on behind the Cambridge, MA folk scene of the '50s and '60s, written by one of the hoariest veterans of the era. The jam-packed, previously unpublished photos are alone worth the price, and their captions are creative ditties. And, if that wispy, natural, 1960's brand of beauty -- facial, bodily, and musical -- affect you viscerally, get ready to be re-affected.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotionally engaging book, almost beyond belief., January 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years (Paperback)

It was after reading this that I started raiding the used record stores around town, and began being a collector and appreciator of this musical genre. I fell in love with Joan Baez' music, as well and that of Richard & Mimi, Tom Rush, Kweskin, Eric Andersen, and so on; whereas before I'd not traveled further in this direction than Dylan, 'folk rock', and a little bit of Joni Mitchell.
It's very seldom that a writer can make you feel like you were there, but these guys did it for me, even 35 years further down the road.
A very passionate, and fulfilling reading [and learning] experience!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Family Album, December 10, 2001

By 

Chris Yeager (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baby, Let Me Follow You Down: The Illustrated Story of the Cambridge Folk Years (Paperback)

Many books get the history of these times right, but so few get.... the wildness. This one gets it right, and with these authors, why shouldnt it? If only for a model on how to write the story of YOUR music scene, you just gotta have this book. Period.