Songs from “Folk City: The Greenwich Village Musical” are being released in album form.
A new album features songs from a musical about performers at the New York nightclub, Folk City, including one co-written by the late Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens. You can listen to it in the video embedded below.
“Folk City: The Greenwich Village Musical” is currently available digitally via Jay Records and will come out on CD on Oct. 11. Visit jayrecords.com.
This version of the musical has not yet been produced on a stage, though an earlier jukebox-musical version, with well-known songs rather than original songs, has been produced, in New York and Portland, Oregon.
DiNizio, who worked as a soundman at Folk City before The Smithereens were well known, co-wrote the song, titled “It’s a Shot,” with the musical’s lyricist, Robbie Woliver, and recorded it in 2013 with Kurt Reil and Kristin Pinell of The Grip Weeds joining him on vocals; Reil also playing drums, percussion and keyboards; and Jim Babjak of The Smithereens playing guitar and bass. DiNizio and Reil co-produced.
“It was an honor writing this song with him,” said Woliver. “I loved that guy (and the band) and I had so much fun with him back in the day. I’m so happy to honor him with this track and hopefully make some royalties for his daughter.”
The song, which is used as the musical’s grand finale, is about taking your “shot” at musical stardom. “It’s a shot at the top/Gonna make it big-time or you’re not/Some will win, some will lose/It’s a shot, make up your mind and choose,” DiNizio sings.
Folk City, one of New York’s leading nightclubs for folk and blues music, existed from 1960 to 1987 in two different locations, helping to launch the careers of everyone from Bob Dylan and Tom Paxton to The Roches and Suzanne Vega. Woliver was one of the co-owners in the ’80s.
The cover of Robbie Woliver’s book, “Bringing It All Back Home: Twenty-Five Years of American Music at Folk City.”
In 1986, Woliver wrote a book titled “Bringing It All Back Home: Twenty-Five Years of American Music at Folk City.” And a 92-page book written by him about the musical and the club, “Folk City: The Greenwich Village Musical (Liner Notes & Lyrics),” is now available through Amazon.com.
The musical “brings its audience into the fascinating world of beatniks, bohemians, hippies, folkies, blues players, singer-songwriters, poets, painters and rockers, first drawn to New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1960s to realize their creative dreams,” Woliver writes. “The play takes place in Gerdes Folk City, the now legendary music venue, where, for three decades, we follow six young, creative hopefuls in the turbulent and exciting ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, through dynamic musical, cultural, political, social and personal changes.”
Other performers on the album include Abby Dormer of Atlantic Highlands as well as Judah Frank, George Anthony Papas, Emily Blount, R.O. Shapiro, Paula Brion and Morgan Mallory.
Songwriting contributors, in addition to DiNizio and Woliver, include Dormer, Papas, Shapiro, Brion, Mallory, Tracy Nelson, Marilyn Lash, Ronnie D’Addario, Nick Lohri, Lili Añel, Filippo De Laura, Gary English and Emma Woliver.
For more on the musical, visit facebook.com/groups/folkcitymusical.
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