Episode 246: Ed Askew

On today's episode, I talk to painter and singer-songwriter Ed Askew. Born in Stamford, Connecticut in 1940, Ed left in the early '60s to attend Yale Art School. In 1967, he moved to New York in the middle of the burgeoning Greenwich Village folk scene, and met Bernard Stollman, the founder of the ESP-Disk label, which was dedicated to releasing uncommercial acts, which included Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman and Ed's own folk album Ask the Unicorn. With no organized tours however, and hardly any press support from ESP, Ed’s album soon descended into hardly-seen-or-heard obscurity status, before finally finding re-release in the mid-2000s on De Stijl Records. Since being rediscovered, Ed's past and current work has been celebrated with Pitchfork and many other high-profile music media praised his work, labeling him as a NY legend. His latest albums can be found on Spinning Gold Records, Tin Angel Records as well as Drag City.This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on iTunes, follow me on Twitter.