Positively 4th Street
The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The Untold Story of the 1960s Folk Scene That Launched Bob Dylan and Joan Baez
Positively Fourth Street is the captivating story of how four young bohemians - Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Baez, and Richard Farina - converged in Greenwich Village, fell into love, and invented a sound and style that became one of the most enduring legacies of the 1960s. Author David Hajdu, acclaimed for his biography of jazz composer Billy Strayhorn, vividly captures the emergence of folk music from cult practice to popular art form through the colorful lives of this influential foursome.
The narrative unfolds from the Baez family home in suburban Boston to the vibrant folk scenes of Cambridge and Minneapolis, where a young Robert Zimmerman reinvented himself as Bob Dylan. Hajdu reveals surprising details and never-before-told stories, shedding new light on Dylan's early years and his rise as a protest singer and countercultural icon.
With its fresh perspective on a defining era, Positively Fourth Street offers an illuminating look at the 1960s before they became "the Sixties." Hajdu's engaging prose and meticulous research make this a must-read for music fans, history buffs, and anyone fascinated by the power of creativity and the spirit of an age.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sometimes, gifted people intersect at the perfect moment and spark a cultural movement. According to acclaimed biographer Hajdu (Lush Life), Joan and Mimi Baez, Dylan and Fari a were of that brand of fated genius, and via romantic and creative trysts, they invented 1960s folk and its initially maligned offshoot, folk rock. But their convergence hardly emblematizes the free-loving media version of the 1960s. Egos especially Joan Baez's and Dylan's clashed, jealousies flared, romance was strategic. Hajdu does not dwell on Dylan's thoughtless, well-documented breakup with Joan Baez after riding to fame on her flowing skirts. Instead, he spotlights Joan's younger sister, Mimi, a skilled guitarist in her own right, and her husband, novelist-musician Fari a. After divorcing leading folkster Carolyn Hester, the disarmingly groovy Fari a captivated teenage Mimi via love letters and, but for his untimely death, might have pursued Joan. Though Fari a comes off as more opportunistic than Dylan, Hajdu compellingly asserts that Fari a, not Dylan, invented folk rock and provided fodder for Dylan's trademark sensibilities. Hajdu provides a skillfully wrought, honest portrait that neither sentimentalizes nor slams the countercultural heyday. Photos not seen by PW.
