Van Ronk Sings was an album by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 folksinger Dave Van Ronk

Dave Van Ronk

Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....

, released in 1961.

It was also released on LP

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 as Dave Van Ronk Sings the Blues and Dave Van Ronk Sings Earthy Ballads and Blues. All these versions are out of print, but most of the songs can be found on the 1991 Smithsonian Folkways CD release The Folkways Years, 1959 - 1961

The Folkways Years, 1959 - 1961

The Folkways Years, 1959 - 1961 is a compilation album of songs by Dave Van Ronk released in 1991.-Reception:Writing for Allmusic, critic William Ruhlman wrote of Van Ronk's musical background and the he continued to "... play and sing hard, as if still trying to be heard over Dixieland arrangements...

and A Chrestomathy

A Chrestomathy

A Chrestomathy is a retrospective two-CD compilation of songs by Dave Van Ronk released in 1992.Van Ronk recorded for many record labels. This compilation was released by Gazell Records.-Reception:...

, released on CD in 1992.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, critic William Ruhlman wrote of the album "Dave Van Ronk's approach to performing traditional folk songs and blues tunes is sufficiently unusual to require a sleeve note from the singer to justify it. Unlike other white, Northern, urban folksingers, who perform such material but do so in their own natural voices, Van Ronk takes much of his style from the black, Southern, rural singers who have performed it before him... he can sing in a way that serves the material and, despite the attempt at imitation, comes off as his own individual sound."

Side one

1. "Bed Bug Blues" – 2:43
2. "Yas-Yas-Yas
   The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas
   "The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas" or "The Duck's Yas Yas Yas" is a hokum jazz-blues song, originally recorded by James "Stump" Johnson, but the most well known version was recorded by Oliver Cobb and his Rhythm Kings....
   
   " (Traditional) – 2:05
3. "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
   See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
   "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" is a blues song recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in 1927 that became "one of his most famous compositions". Son House used the melody on his 1930 recording of "Mississippi County Farm Blues"....
   
   " (Blind Lemon Jefferson
   Blind Lemon Jefferson
   "Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....
   
   ) – 2:54
4. "Tell Old Bill"
5. "Georgie on the IRT" – 3:28
6. "Hesitation Blues
   Hesitation Blues
   "Hesitation Blues" is a popular song adapted from a traditional tune. One version was published by Billy Smythe, Scott Middleton, and Art Gillham. Another was published by W.C. Handy as "Hesitating Blues." Because the tune is a traditional tune many artists have given themselves credit as...
   
   " (Rev. Gary Davis) – 2:32
7. "Hootchy Kootchy Man
   Hoochie Coochie Man
   "Hoochie Coochie Man" is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first performed by Muddy Waters in 1954 . The song was a major hit upon its release, reaching #8 on Billboard magazine's Black Singles chart...
   
   "
8. "Sweet Substitute"

Side two

1. "Dink's Song
   Dink's Song
   "Dink's Song" is an American folk song played by many folk revival musicians such as Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk, as well as more recent musicians like Jeff Buckley...
   
   "
2. "River Come Down" – 3:43
3. "Just a Closer Walk With Thee (Traditional) – 3:00
4. "Come Back Baby" (Walter Davis
   Walter Davis
   -Sports:* Walter Davis an Australian rugby union player* Walter Davis , Millwall F.C. and Wales international footballer* Walt Davis , American basketball player and high-jumper...
   
   ) – 3:51
5. "Spike Driver's Moan" – 3:11
6. "Standing By My Window"
7. "Willie the Weeper
   Willie the Weeper
   Willie the Weeperis a song about drug addiction, written by Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon in 1927. It is the basis for Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher The Dave Van Ronk version may be the inspiration for the Velvet Underground's Heroin....
   
   " (Marty Bloom, Walter Melrose
   Walter Melrose
   Walter Melrose was a music publisher and lyricist in the 1920s and 1930s.He was born in Sumner, Illinois, and was the brother of Lester Melrose, with whom he established a music store in Chicago. This became successful after the Tivoli Theatre opened in the same street, greatly increasing the...
   
   , Grant Rymal) – 2:47