Len Chandler, a Greenwich Village “folky” in the mid ’60s with Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, Pete Seeger, The New Lost City Ramblers, and others, died at his home in Los Angeles on August 28. He was 88.

Known primarily as a songwriter and performer, Chandler was also a proficient fingerpicking guitarist who, he told friends at the time, showed Dylan the pattern for “Girl from the North Country.” A tireless writer of topical and protest songs, when the Beatles shifted the focus of popular music, he continued to write and play, but moved to California, where he performed with Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and Howard Hesseman in a series of protests over the Vietnam War.

In a feature for Sing Out magazine, Chandler wrote about his participation in one of the 1965 civil-rights demonstration marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and was seen in the documentary section of the 2014 film, Selma, which was directed by Ava DuVernay and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

This article originally appeared in VG’s November 2023 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.