by George De Stefano

Dominic Chianese is not a name most people would associate with New York's '60s folk music scene. But Chianese, the actor best known for playing the bitter and conniving Uncle Junior on The Sopranos, was a stalwart of that scene, as a performer and as the MC at Gerde's Folk City, the legendary Greenwich Village restaurant and bar that presented many of the era's best-known and most influential figures.

The literally hundreds of singers, guitar pickers, and harmonica wranglers Chianese brought to Gerde's stage included Arlo Guthrie, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Dave Van Ronk, Odetta, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, Judy Collins, David Bromberg, José Feliciano, Happy and Artie Traum, Tom Paxton, Buffy Saint-Marie, Paul Butterfield, John Lee Hooker, Jean Ritchie, and Ian and Sylvia. 

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Source: http://www.popmatters.com/