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Barry Drake

Barry Drake - Musician & Rock & Roll Historian

About Me

....BARRY DRAKE has often been called a walking encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. A graduate of Manhattan College in Riverdale, New York, he has been totally involved in the world of music since buying his first Rock & Roll record in 1954. Growing up in the New York City area, Barry went everywhere there was music to be heard. He saw everyone from Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry at the Brooklyn Paramount in 1957, to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin at the Fillmore in 1967. He watched Bob Dylan go electric at The Newport Folk Festival and when San Francisco exploded with the Summer Of Love, Barry was there, hanging out on the streets of Haight-Ashbury with The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane and attending the legendary Monterey Pop Festival. Later on in the 70s, he witnessed everything from the birth of Punk Music at CBGB'S to the arrival of Bruce Springsteen from the clubs of the Jersey shore. ....Starting in 1965, Barry became a performer and songwriter, playing alongside Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, Emmylou Harris, Loudon Wainwright III, Richie Havens and James Taylor in the clubs of New York's Greenwich Village. In 1970 he was signed to Capitol Records and hit the road, playing colleges and clubs from coast to coast. In the hectic years that followed, he recorded three albums and extensively toured the United States and Europe. ....In 1984 Barry added Rock & Roll Lectures to an already busy concert schedule. From their humble beginnings, Barry's Rock & Roll Multimedia Presentations on the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s have become some of the most popular shows on college campuses. He has been voted Campus Lecturer Of The Year 5 times by The National Association For Campus Activities and Campus Lecturer Of The Year 3 times by Campus Activities Magazine. ....Barry's goal has always been very simple, to keep great music alive and to make every campus in America ROCK! .....Visit Barry's website at: www.barrydrake.com Check out his tour schedule to see if he's appearing in a town near you. Come out to the show and say hello. To view Barry's promotional video, click on the video link to the left, just below his photo.
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My Interests

Upcoming Dates!
- Feb 1 Piedmont Natural Gas Co Charlotte, NC
- Feb 16-21 NACA NATIONAL CONVENTION Nashville, TN
- Mar 21 Univ Of South Carolina/Upstate Spartanburg, SC
- Mar 22 Furman University Greenville, SC
- Mar 23 Winthrop University Rock Hill, SC
- Mar 26 East Carolina University Greenville, NC
- Mar 27 The College Of New Jersey Ewing, NJ
- Mar 28 Villa Julie College Stevenson, MD
- Mar 29 Mt. St. Mary's Univ. Emmittsburg, MD

I'd like to meet:

You, at one of my upcoming shows!Or, if you have a Rock & Roll History question, send it to me and I'll do my best to get back to you with an answer.

Music:

Bob Dylan, The Band, Joni Mitchell, Buddy Holly, Elvis Costello, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Bonnie Raitt, Alison Krauss, Jackson Browne, Eric Clapton, Doc Watson, Richard Thompson, Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix, James Taylor, Tom Waits, Guy Clark, Ry Cooder, Randy Newman, etc.

Movies:

The Godfather, Radio Days, Broadway Danny Rose, This Is Spinal Tap, The Gangs Of New York, The Last Waltz, The Grapes Of Wrath, Goodfellas, A River Runs Through It, The Harder They Come, etc.

Television:

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Two And A Half Men, Entourage, The Sopranos, Austin City Limits, etc.

Books:

On The Road (Jack Kerouac), Bound For Glory (Woody Guthrie), Flowers In The Dustbin (James Miller), Chronicles (Bob Dylan), Across The Great Divide (Barney Hoskyns), It Was Twenty Years Ago Today (Derek Taylor), The Sound Of The City (Charlie Gillett), etc!

Heroes:

Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Chuck Berry, Robert Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jack Kerouac, Alan Freed, Sam Phillips, etc.