Blind Boy Grunt.

Dylan Eric Von Schmidt & Richard Farina.

There are several mentions in the Joe Boyd book of Eric Von Schmidt. He was a folk singer, songwriter, guitarist and painter who was a leading light of the American folk scene of the late 50’s and early 60’s. He was also a close friend of Bob Dylan. Bob even mentions Eric on his very first album when he said that he learned Baby Let Me Follow You Down from Eric. He also gave him another plug three years later. If you look carefully at the cover of the Bringing It All Back Home album you will see an album by Eric right near Bob’s hand.

To cut to the chase, when I was reading about Eric this afternoon I suddenly remembered that I have an album by him. I haven’t got many vinyl albums left but somehow this album has survived. It is called Dick Farina & Eric Von Schmidt. Dick or Richard Farina was another singer and writer of great promise. He married Carolyn Hester and later Mimi who was the younger sister of Joan Baez. He is best remembered for his novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me. Tragically his career ended in 1966 when he was killed in a motorcycle accident. The album was recorded at Dobell’s Record Shop in London in January 1963. It was released in England on the Folklore label. My copy is the very rare first pressing which says LIMITED EDITION on the record label.

My Copy.

What makes this LP so interesting to me (and many others I would imagine!) is that there is a guest player on the record who went by the name of Blind Boy Grunt. He doesn’t sing on the album, just plays harmonica, I wish he did sing though because Blind Boy Grunt is better known the world over as BOB DYLAN!. I can’t remember ever playing this album and I don’t know how it came into my possession. I haven’t had a record turntable for at least 25 years so I can’t listen to it now. I did listen to a couple of tracks on youtube this afternoon and I wasn’t all that impressed I’m afraid.

Not My Copy.

Because of the Dylan connection this record is much sought after by collectors. Mint copies of this rare limited-edition change hands for £50-£!20. Sadly, my copy isn’t in a very good state, the cover is quite worn & tatty and there are some scratches on the vinyl. However, it is probably worth a few quid even in this condition. Anyway, it was good fun finding out about it today and it gave me something to write about..