Randy Burns, a fixture of the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene, died on August 8, 2026, at his home. He was 78. No cause of death has been reported.
Burns grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, and started performing in local coffee houses at 17. By 1966, he’d moved to Greenwich Village, where he busked on the street before Gaslight Cafe owner Clarence Hood took notice and hired him as the venue’s permanent opening act. It was the same MacDougal Street stage Bob Dylan had played and recorded on just a few years earlier.
At only 18, Burns found himself opening for artists he’d grown up listening to, including Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk and John Hammond. ESP-Disk label owner Bernard Stollman eventually invited him to record, and Burns released his debut album, Of Love and War, in 1967…