David Blue – 2018
The Pawtucket musician and his peers Bob Dylan, Eric Andersen and Leonard Cohen helped to move folk music into the modern singer-songwriter era.
Pawtucket native David Cohen got his start on the Providence folk scene which revolved around the Tete-A-Tete coffeehouse on the East Side. He moved to Greenwich Village in 1964 and was quickly recognized as an important new voice by both the old guard and the new. He was welcomed into the inner circle of the era’s most important singer-songwriters including Tom Paxton, Dave Van Ronk, Eric Andersen and Bob Dylan. Dave Cohen shared his name with two other nationally known musicians, so Eric and Bob convinced him to adopt the stage name “David Blue” to avoid confusion. His self-titled 1966 Elektra album is considered one of the greatest recording debuts in the history of folk music. Its success propelled him into a decade-long career as a major label recording artist which yielded another six critically acclaimed albums. The track “Outlaw Man” from his 1973 Asylum Records release Nice Baby and the Angel provided label mates the Eagles with a song which was not only integral to the story line of their second album, Desperado, but also provided them with a major hit when it was released as a single. David passed away at just 41 in 1982. Although he never achieved major stardom, he was recognized by Leonard Cohen during his eulogy as a “songwriters songwiter” stating that, “David Blue was the peer of any singer in this country.”
