POSITIVELY 4TH STREET by David Hajdu
The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez-Farina and Richard Farina
Farrar, Straus and Giroux - 2001
ISBN: 0374281998 - Hardcover

Reviewed by Beverly J. Rowe, MyShelf.com
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This is the captivating, intimate story of the lives of four musicians who influenced a generation of young people and created a new era of popular American music. From the Greenwich Village coffee houses to the top of the pop charts, they were drawn together by their music and mutual attraction to take folk music to new heights, and create totally new sounds, re-defining the genre and mesmerizing the children of the 60's. Joan and Mimi Baez played guitar and sang from a very early age, and Joan was recognized as queen of folk music when she and the rising star Bob Dylan met. Richard Farina, an up and coming novelist and sometime musician, was entranced by Joan, but married the beautiful Mimi when she was 17 years old.

David Hajdu explores the influence of other artistic greats such as Woody Guthrie, Hank Williams, Buddy Holly and James Dean as he captures the personalities of the Baez sisters, Bob Dylan and Richard Farina along with the complexity of their personal relationships. He tells us of their hopes and dreams, their disappointments and their struggles to make it to the top.

Whether you are a fan of their music or not, this marvelous book that reads like good fiction will give you new understanding of what it's like to be an idol to generations of Americans.  Hajdu conducted several hundred interviews to bring us a new story of the 60's that will touch your heart as it has mine.
 

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