Songs of Greenwich Village

From the arrival of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger in 1940, through the 1960s and into the present, Greenwich Village has provided a strong and independent voice in America’s musical landscape. From the tradition-steeped singers of Washington Square to Bob Dylan and Paul Simon to Bette Midler’s “From a Distance” and more recent work, the Village’s singers and songwriters have chronicled our history in folk and popular song. Join Rod MacDonald for a special “performance lecture” with live music and information about the characters and music of this unique society. Rod MacDonald (UVA ’70) began his singing career in the 1970s in Greenwich Village, where for twenty years he was one of the Village’s top club headliners, recording 21 songs for Smithsonian/Fast Folk records, and co-founding the Greenwich Village Folk Festival. The composer of songs recorded by such artists as Shawn Colvin, Jonathan Edwards, and many others, MacDonald has made 12 solo CDs and appears in major festivals throughout N. America, Europe, and Australia. He lives in Florida, where he is Music Americana lecturer at Florida Atlantic University’s OLLI Program, and was named Distinguished Faculty Member in 2012. *Mr. MacDonald appears courtesy of The Songmaker Series at Charlottesville Coffee, where he is appearing in concert this same Friday evening in June.