Biographical Note
Israel (Izzy) Goodman Young was born March 26, 1928 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In the 1940s, Young fell in love with square dancing through his involvement with Margot Mayo's American Square Dance Group, where he met folk musicians such as Pete Seeger, Oscar Brand, and Reverend Gary Davis. After accumulating a catalog of books about folk music, Young opened the Folklore Center in 1957, a music store and gathering place for the folk music revival scene in Greenwich Village. Young organized and promoted folk music concerts and poetry readings at the Folklore Center and at other venues in New York City. He was a founder of the Friends of Old Time Music, a group which presented concerts of traditional folk musicians in New York City venues. Young also organized what is thought to be Bob Dylan's first formal concert on November 4, 1961 at Carnegie Hall, as well as the early concerts of musicians such as Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchell, and Mississippi John Hurt. He wrote about the folk music scene in his Sing Out! Magazine column, "Frets and Frails," from 1959 to 1969. In 1973, Young emigrated to Stockholm, Sweden, and opened the Folklore Centrum, through which he has organized and promoted cultural events, including Scandanavian folk music and dance events. From the mid-1980s until 2012, Young issued the Folklore Centrum newsletter, a resource for events and commentary about Swedish and American folk music.