Music fans are paying tribute to a folk music pioneer and contemporary of Bob Dylan in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 1960s.
The New Haven Register reports that singer, songwriter and guitarist Randy Burns has passed away. He was 78 years old.
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The late singer’s sister, Sue Burns Baker, announced the sad news in a Facebook post.
“Randy Burns, my big brother, folksinger, songwriter and friend to many from New Haven, Connecticut, born April 14, 1948, passed from this earth into the hands of God today, August 8, 2026,” the post read.
Per the Register, Burns was just 14 when he first picked up a guitar. By 16, he’d become a fixture in the coffeehouse circuit in his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut. Deciding to skip his senior year of high school, he instead relocated to NYC’s Greenwich Village in 1966, where Dylan first emerged several years earlier before being catapulted to superstardom.
“Despite leaving home at such a young age and embarking on a life of his own, some of Randy’s most cherished memories were the Christmases spent at his parents’ home in Higganum,” his sister added.
A Shift to Rock
During his time in Greenwich Village, Burns’ street busking caught the attention of Clarence Hood, owner of the Gaslight Cafe — where Dylan’s regular performances built the following that propelled him to fame, and where he recorded his 1962 “Live at the Gaslight” album. Hood offered Burns a regular spot as permanent opening act, where he performed with such folk icons as Dave Van Ronk and John Hammond.
When the folk boom waned as the 1960s progressed, he shifted to a more rock-oriented sound that led to the founding of his Randy Burns and the Sky Dog Band. The group quickly gained a following, and landed spots opening for such acts as Cream, Buddy Guy and the Smothers Brothers.
“He was such a good singer, songwriter and performer that it was always a treat, and he drew out the best in his fellow musicians. He brought great emotion and concentration to the stage, plus he had a sense of humor. Through his career, he mentored and helped out a lot of others in Connecticut,” Burns’s former bandmate Mat Kastner said in a statement. “When we were in the bands, we had the pleasure of taking rickety converted school buses twice across the country to play on the West Coast. I’ll miss him greatly, as will scores of his fans and colleagues.”
A Return to Folk
Per the late singer’s website, Burns and the Sky Dog Band were soon basking in rave reviews.
“Rolling Stone Magazine said, ‘Nobody, but nobody, sings anything like Randy Burns.’ The New York Times called Randy ‘Vocally Convincing.’ Billboard Magazine wrote that ‘Randy’s voice is so intrinsically right that it wraps the listener in a pool of contentment.’ When Randy played The Troubadour, the Los Angeles Times said, ‘Randy is the best country flavored rock singer since Graham Parsons, who was, and is, as good as anyone before him,'” the site noted.
However, Burns eventually soured on the music industry, and returned to his folk music roots while relentlessly touring — to the point that he was essentially homeless. “It would have been a waste of money,” he said, via the site. “I was singing so many places that I’d leave a bag of clothes wherever I usually played so I could travel light.”
‘Lived Life in His Own Way’
As the Register reports, Burns’ obituary noted that he was something of an iconoclast.
“Randy lived life in his own way, following his love of music wherever it took him,” his obituary read.
“From a 14-year-old boy writing songs on hundreds of scraps of paper in his bedroom, to The Exit, Greenwich Village, the Gaslight, The Morning, the Sky Dog Band, the Troubadour, the Hollywood Bowl, Block Island and the many places he performed throughout the years, music remained the constant thread running through his life,” Burns’ obituary continued. “He leaves behind songs, recordings, stories, friendships, memories and a musical legacy that will continue to be discovered and remembered.”
