GERDE'S FOLK CITY at SIXTY concert announcement

Come celebrate 

The 60th Anniversary 

For world renown cabaret 

Gerde’s Folk City

Experience songs from the era performed by an All Star band. 

Hear voices from the past come to life.

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The subway you will need to get there

Folk City was the epicenter of the Washington Square Folk and Blues Revival. 

 The seminal club hosted the first professional gig for a constellation of American Folk acts during the Washington Square Revival of the 1960s.

Beginning in 1960 and virtually overnight, Folk City became the premiere showcase for America's most critically acclaimed singer-songwriters, Bluesmen and traditional Folk artists from around the Country.

At the center of the action was Mike Porco, the enigmatic restauranteur and champion of struggling talent.

Gerde's Restaurant was an Italian eatery situated ‘off the beaten path’ East of Washington Square and MacDougal Street yet it became the unlikely launch pad of a musical movement.

For the next 20 years, Gerde's was a beacon of light for the professional traveling, and oft times wayfaring, musician dreaming of an audience for their work. Blues masters were playing the Greenwich Village clubs passing on their knowledge to many aspiring new comers.

In his autobiography, Bob Dylan called Gerde's "the preeminent Folk club in America." Folk City's distinctive fraternity of such aspiring young artists and legendary recording stars borders on myth. 

Folk City ultimately hosted acts as far and wide as Gospel matinees on Sunday in 1960 to Sonic Youth in the ‘80s.

Suze Rotolo said that Gerde's was where "the cross-fertilization of different styles and musical eras forged important links in the chain of American musical history."

In early 1960, Mike Porco added a Monday night 'Hootenanny,' widely regarded as New York's first "open mic." Mike Porco, an opportunist who was never one to turn away a crowd, was instrumental in, literally, setting the stage for the music revolution of the 1960s.

In a short time, Porco became a steadfast supporter, champion and surrogate father for those reshaping the sound of American music.

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West 4th and Mercer was where America’s timeless songs were born and bred. 

Folk. Rock. Blues. Roots. 

Come celebrate ‘New York’s Center of Folk Music’

Hosted by Mike's grandson, Bob Porco 

and Bongo frontman Richard Barone.

Complete list of performers 

ANNOUNCED SOON

with link for tickets

and details on the show.

The Iridium

January 24, 2020

From the inside of Gerde's on W.4th St. LIFE Magazine was there.