Greenwich Village was magnetic for many folk musicians in the 1960s. Cutting their teeth on acoustic guitars in smoke-filled coffee houses, a cadre of famous names committed the ultimate blasphemy – they went electric. John Strausbaugh, in his History of Greenwich Village describes a few of the famous folk singers that shared their Greenwich Village roots:
Further on, Strausbaugh writes:
“Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, boyhood friends from Queens, had been on the Village folk scene since 1963. In the fall of 1965 a mildly rockish rerecording of the Dylanesque folk song “Sounds of Silence” – which had flopped when released in a straight acoustic version the previous year – became a smash hit. The Mamas and the Papas released their first records in 1965 as well. Three of the four – John Pillips, Cass Elliot, and Denny Doherty – originally met while living and making folk music in the Village.”
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