Chapter 22 of the Strausbaugh book, A History of Greenwich Village, chronicles a few of the colorful personalities that illuminated the magnetic atmosphere of this special place for others to see. Strausbaugh describes one such Village voice, radio show innovator and host, Jean Shepard.
“His bitter comic memories of growing up in a small town as a boy named Jean inspired his friend Shel Silverstein to write the Johnny Cash hit “A Boy Named Sue.” In 1955 he came to New York, which he called ‘the East of golden promise.” He loved it right away. “Do you realize how – how fortunate we are?“ he asked his listeners in 1960. “Do you have no idea what a terrible lure this place is to people who live outside of this place.” He felt especially at home in Greenwich Village, among the jazzbos, Beat writers, and assorted eccentrics and misfits. HIs metier-long-form, extemporaneous storytelling – was akin to both jazz riffing and the Beats’ love of spontaneous creativity. He started hanging out in the Village the instant he arrived and lived in the neighborhood from the 1960s into the late ‘70s.”
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