Dave Van Ronk"s music rumbles like a gale steadily building from sea, land, and old 78s. A central figure in the folk revival of the 60s, long time haunter of Greenwich Village, cohort to Dylan and protégé to Odetta, Van Ronk is a finger-picking tome of tradition--jazz, blues, sea chanteys, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. In a voice mellowed and raw from a billion cigarettes, he draws this spectrum into a single constellation of lasting, revelatory songs. He"s had a storied career of recording, covering mostly traditional material with just voice and guitar, a style this 1995 set continues. Much of this material is familiar territory, but Van Ronk has never sounded more soulful, especially on his original Another Time and Place, a delicately glorious moment amidst his rough and penetrating acoustic blues. --Ray Francis Kasten