Richard Fariña earned recognition in the early 1960s as both a counterculture novelist and a folksinger. For a period he was wed to the folksinger Carolyn Hester, and during those years he grew close to Bob Dylan. In 1963 the three men—Fariña, Dylan (billed as Blind Boy Grunt), and Eric Von Schmidt—cut a rare album together. After Fariña married Mimi, the sister of Joan Baez, the couple formed a folk-rock duo that issued two well-received albums in the middle of the decade. Where groups such as the Byrds leaned heavily into rock textures, the Fariñas stayed closer to their folk origins while adding jangling electric guitars and a rhythm section to the songs, most of which Fariña himself wrote. Session contributors included guitarist Bruce Langhorne, already known for his work on Dylan’s earliest electric sessions, bassist Felix Pappalardi, and harmonica player John Hammond. The Fariñas handled guitar, autoharp, and dulcimer themselves. Blues numbers proved their weakest suit, yet they produced strong Appalachian-tinged pieces alongside several convincing mid-tempo folk-rock tracks and ballads. Their finest material offset worldly, sardonic commentary with an upbeat melodic spirit. The duo’s rise was cut short when Richard Fariña died in a motorcycle crash on his birthday in 1966. That same year his novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me attained cult status. In the years since, Mimi Fariña has made occasional solo recordings and appearances.
