Terri Thal was a vital presence in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk music world, where she played a pivotal role as Bob Dylan's first manager at just 21 years of age. At the heart of it all, she witnessed—and helped shape—one of the most important cultural movements of 20th-century America," Essayist Frank Matheis wrote those words about Terri Thal in his candid account, A Life of Grace and Grit: The Legacy of Terri Thal. Frank is also a guest on today's show and will share thoughts from his essay. Terri was a multi-faceted music manager and lifelong activist. Thal has chronicled her remarkable journey in her tenderly-told 2023 memoir, My Greenwich Village – Dave, Bob and Me (McNidder & Grace).
A multi-faceted music manager and lifelong activist, Thal has chronicled her remarkable journey in her tenderly-told 2023 memoir, My Greenwich Village – Dave, Bob and Me (McNidder & Grace), suffused with a candid account of the early folk scene and her intersection with two of its towering figures: Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan. Her book comes at just the right time to tell the rest of the story outlined in the popular Dylan bio pic, A Complete Unknown. It was a good movie, she says - but incomplete. Characters were combined, or simply disappeared she says, and she's glad to fill in the spots with personal anecdotes that only she can tell.
Matheis goes on, "In the early 1960s, New York’s Greenwich Village was the epicenter of the American folk music revival. The Village pulsed with raw creativity and political passion, serving as the heart of the American folk music revival and a haven for artists, poets, activists, and dreamers. Its smoke-filled bars, clubs, and coffee houses overflowed with acoustic guitars, protest songs, and youthful rebellion.
Shortly after a 21-year-old Bob Dylan arrived in the city, Terri Thal became his first manager. She was already managing her husband, Dave Van Ronk—later dubbed the “Mayor of MacDougal Street”—and would go on to work with artists such as Maggie and Terre Roche, Paul Geremia, and the Holy Modal Rounders. In one of her most historically significant contributions, she recorded Dylan performing six songs at the Gaslight Café in September 1961—what would become known as “Bob Dylan’s first demo tape.” That tape was the first step that propelled the “complete unknown” into national consciousness.
She even reflects on the one that got away. Thal had a chance to manage James Taylor, but she turned him down. “He was just starting out,” she reminisces. “I thought he’d probably become very good, but he wasn’t making the kind of music that excited me then, and I could only work with musicians who did.”
We'll be joined by Matheis who interviewed her for The Inspirational Art Group. Frank Matheis is a music, arts and culture writer and a contributing writer to the Inspiration Art Group International. His two current book projects are titled “Outrage Channeled in Verse – American Protest Songs in the Trump Era,” and “Rooted in Wonder – My Journey from Earth Child to Naturalist” with Jenny Richards. He is also a contributing writer to Living Blues magazine (Center for Southern Culture Studies) and the publisher/editor of thecountryblues.com. Frank was formerly an award-winning radio producer. He is also a published photographer, curator and video producer.
Terri’s piece on the Rock and the Beat Generation Substack:
https://simonwarner.substack.com/p/terri-thal-2-that-dylan-movie
Frank’s Piece on Terri
https://inspirationartgroup.org/essays/terri-thal/
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