A Chrestomathy

A Chrestomathy
A Chrestomathy
Compilation album by Dave Van Ronk
Released	1992
Recorded	1960-1991
Genre	Folk
Label	Gazell
Producer	Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk chronology

Last updated October 23, 2022

A Chrestomathy is a retrospective two-CD compilation of songs by Dave Van Ronk released in 1992. Its liner notes explain the title: "CHRES-TO-MA-THY: a selection of choice passages. WHICH MEANS THIS IS A SELECTION OF CHOICE WORKS FROM MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS OF DAVE'S MUSIC ON RECORDS."^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[2]

Writing for Allmusic, critic William Ruhlman wrote of the album "his affection for the pop music of his childhood ("Two Sleepy People," sung with Christine Lavin, "Swinging on a Star"), makes for a more varied chrestomathy than those who think of Dave Van Ronk simply as a folksinger might expect. It's hard to summarize more than three decades in the career of a steadily working musician in less than two hours, even one who recorded in as piecemeal a fashion as this one, but this compilation does a good job."^[2]

Track listing

Disc 1

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Tell Old Bill"	Traditional	4:24
2.	"Cocaine Blues"	Luke Jordan	4:19
3.	"Motherless Children"	Traditional	3:51
4.	"Poor Lazarus"	Traditional	5:11
5.	"Mr Noah"	Traditional	1:32
6.	"Come Back Baby"	Traditional	3:52
7.	"If I Had to Do It All Over Again"	Bob Dylan	3:34
8.	"Kentucky Moonshiner"	Traditional	2:40
9.	"Fair and Tender Ladies"	Traditional	5:42
10.	"Alley Oop"	Frazier, Kaverin	3:39
11.	"Chelsea Morning"	Joni Mitchell	2:37
12.	"Clouds"	Mitchell	4:38
13.	"Swinging on a Star"	Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen	2:37
14.	"Dink's Song"	Traditional	3:34
15.	"Romping Through the Swamp"	Stampfel	1:59

Tracks 10-15 originally on The Hudson Dusters

Disc 2

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"My Little Grass Shack"	Cogswell, Harrison, Nobel	3:39
2.	"You's a Viper"		2:35
3.	"Temptation Rag"	Lodge	3:10
4.	"Stealin'"	Shade	3:15
5.	"John Hurt"	Paxton	3:14
6.	"Sunday Street"	Van Ronk	3:29
7.	"The Entertainer"	Scott Joplin	4:57
8.	"Candy Man"	Davis	3:05
9.	"Teddy Bear's Picnic"	Bratton, Kennedy	3:07
10.	"Mack the Knife"	Brecht, Weill	2:36
11.	"Tango Ballad"	Bratton, Kennedy	4:44
12.	"Losers"	Van Ronk	3:14
13.	"Garden State Stomp"	Van Ronk	3:33
14.	"Two Sleepy People"	Carmichael, Frank Loesser	3:38
15.	"The Fresno Shuffle"	Frandsen	2:47

Track 1 originally on Songs for Ageing Children
Tracks 2-4 originally on The Ragtime Jug Stompers
Track 9 originally on Peter and the Wolf
Tracks 10-11 originally on Let No One Deceive You

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References

↑ "Dave Van Ronk - A Chrestomathy". Discogs. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
1 2 Ruhlman, William. "A Chrestomathy Review". Allmusic . Retrieved June 15, 2011.

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[1] "Dave Van Ronk - A Chrestomathy". Discogs. Retrieved 2022-10-22.

[AM-2] 1 2 Ruhlman, William. "A Chrestomathy Review". Allmusic . Retrieved June 15, 2011.

[1]

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v t e Dave Van Ronk
Studio albums	Dave Van Ronk Sings Ballads, Blues, and a Spiritual (1959) Van Ronk Sings (1961) Dave Van Ronk, Folksinger (1962) In the Tradition (1963) Dave Van Ronk and the Ragtime Jug Stompers (1964) Inside Dave Van Ronk (1964) Just Dave Van Ronk (1964) No Dirty Names (1966) Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters (1967) Van Ronk (1971) Songs for Ageing Children (1973) Sunday Street (1976) Somebody Else, Not Me (1980) Your Basic Dave Van Ronk (1982) St. James Infirmary (1983) Going Back to Brooklyn (1985) Let No One Deceive You (1990) Hummin’ to Myself (1990) Peter and the Wolf (1990) To All My Friends in Far-Flung Places (1994) From... Another Time & Place (1995) Sweet & Lowdown (2001)
Live albums	Dave Van Ronk in Rome (1983) Live at Sir George Williams University (1997) ...and the tin pan bended and the story ended... (2004) On Air (2008)
Compilations	Van Ronk (1972) Hesitation Blues (1988) Inside Dave Van Ronk (1989) The Folkways Years, 1959–1961 (1991) A Chrestomathy (1992) Two Sides of Dave Van Ronk (2002) The Mayor of MacDougal Street (2005) Bluesmaster (2012) Down in Washington Square: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection (2013)