Speaking to UCR in a timely new interview, with renewed Dylan interest at its peak following the recent A Complete Unknown biopic, early champion, manager and confidante Terri Thal tells all about her time discovering, promoting and nurturing the future folk star, and her creation of the first, and much-bootlegged Gaslight Café gig that put him on the map.
As an active participant in the '50s and '60s New York Greenwich Village scene, Thal had taken on the role of manager for her husband, Dave Van Ronk, and always had her ear to the ground for new talent.
Indeed, writing in his own Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan confirms the importance of Thal in his story. "Van Ronk's wife, Terri, definitely not a minor character, took care of Dave's bookings, especially out of town, and she began trying to help me out," he writes.
And it was Thal who first committed the young Dylan to tape, recording his Gaslight Café gig on 6 September 1961, that miraculously, and through countless bootlegs, still exists to this day, with the original tape currently up for auction.
Thal made the recording as ammo when pursuing bookings for the unknown up and comer.
“But the reaction that I got was pretty universally: 'Why should I hire this guy when I can hire Jack Elliot?,'" says Thal. “And Jack Elliott was a folksinger, also Jewish, from Brooklyn, who also changed his name, who sounded like Woody Guthrie… At that time a lot like Woody Guthrie… And the reaction I got was exactly the same. 'Why should I hire this kid when I can hire Jack Elliott?'"
Still, through Thal’s persistence, Dylan found his feet and while she would later graciously step aside, allowing Albert Grossman to propel Dylan’s career in the role of manager ("I know he can do much more for you than I can," Thal recalls saying to Dylan), her role in Dylan’s future has never been in doubt.
The Times They Are A-Changin’
“My first impression of Bob? I thought he was some kind of remarkable,” she recalls. “He was not a great guitarist, he was not a great singer. He kind of stumbled all over the stage. It took a while to realize that I was watching Charlie Chaplin, and there was something charming and memorable about the guy…
“I thought he was special. I thought he was distinctive… I took the tape to a recording studio, and I had a little cassette made or something like that, that I could physically carry to an out-of-town club.
"And that's why the thing got bootlegged… I assume the recording studio let somebody make copies, or a copy or whatever, of that tape, which ultimately was issued as a bootleg with dreadful sound.”
At the time of writing, the original demo - which auctioneers RR Auction claim boasts "clear, high-quality recordings of six early tracks" - is sitting at a price of $31,460, with 10 hours of bidding left. The six tracks in question are Old Man, He Was a Friend of Mine, Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues, Song to Woody, Pretty Polly, and Car, Car.
If you want to get in on the auction action, head over to RRauction.com now.
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