The Incredible String Band was a psychedelic folk band from Scotland who blended traditional instruments, poetry, and performance art. It doesn’t get much more hippie than that. Unfortunately Woodstock didn’t work out […]
Keef Hartley is an interesting footnote in rock history. He became the drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes after their drummer left to join The Beatles. Oh, Ringo — what a […]
Woodstock wasn’t the best organized event, to say the least. Woe unto the poor musician who found himself standing around backstage during a lull. That’s how Richie Havens came to open the […]
Music follows trends, and the prevailing trends at Woodstock were blues-oriented rock and folk/folk rock. Only four acts didn’t fit into one of those buckets. On day one Ravi Shankar laid down […]
Northern California’s own Country Joe McDonald is the only Woodstock musician to perform two complete distinct sets. Like Richie Havens and John Sebastian, McDonald was in the wrong place at the wrong […]
The crowd enjoyed ten hours of rainy silence between Joan Baez closing day one, the “folk” day at Woodstock, and Quill opening the more rock-oriented Saturday performances. They kicked off a day […]
When Joan Baez stepped onto the stage at one a.m. Saturday morning she was six months pregnant and her draft protester husband was on his way to federal prison. Her set was […]
The time was nearing eleven p.m. when twenty-two year old Melanie Safka, or Melanie, took the Woodstock stage. A label mate of Bert Sommer’s over at Buddah, she was enjoying a little […]
It’s 10:00 Friday night and raining when sitar master Ravi Shankar takes the stage along with his tabla accompanist, Alla Rakha. At forty-nine years old Shankar is a generation removed from his […]
By the end of 1969 musician Tim Hardin had seven albums to his credit. He also had a wicked case of stage fright and a heroin addiction. All things considered the surprise […]
