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Sense of Place: This Harvard Square club is a longtime haven for folk musicians

Matt Smith, Club Passim's managing director
George Murphy
/
WXPN
Matt Smith, Club Passim's managing director

Since 1958, Club Passim has hosted a plethora of folk legends like Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and many more.

Cambridge, Mass., is full of grand academic buildings. It's a place that oozes prestige, grandeur and history.

But nestled in an alley in Harvard Square, down some stairs and so unassuming that you might walk by without even realizing it was there, is a legendary music venue as important as any of Cambridge's stately halls.

Club Passim has been a sanctuary for folk music for over 60 years. Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan and arguably any major folk musician you can think of have all performed at this intimate venue.

To kick off our Sense of Place: Boston series, we talked with Club Passim's managing director, Matt Smith, to find out how this modest club became a cornerstone of Boston's music scene.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.

Copyright 2025 XPN

Raina Douris, an award-winning radio personality from Toronto, Ontario, comes to World Cafe from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), where she was host and writer for the daily live, national morning program Mornings on CBC Music. She was also involved with Canada's highest music honors: hosting the Polaris Music Prize Gala from 2017 to 2019, as well as serving on the jury for both that award and the Juno Awards. Douris has also served as guest host and interviewer for various CBC Music and CBC Radio programs, and red carpet host and interviewer for the Juno Awards and Canadian Country Music Association Awards, as well as a panelist for such renowned CBC programs as Metro Morning, q and CBC News.
Miguel Perez
Miguel Perez is a radio producer for NPR's World Cafe, based out of WXPN in Philadelphia. Before that, he covered arts, music and culture for KERA in Dallas. He reported on everything from the rise of NFTs in the music industry to the enduring significance of gay and lesbian bars to the LGBTQ community in North Texas.
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