Provincetown’s History Told Through Artifacts

by Steve Desroches 

It wasn’t around long, but the Blues Bag left an indelible imprint on the cultural life of Provincetown. While the folk music coffeehouse only existed for three years, from 1966 to 1968, it brought some of the biggest names of the genre to Provincetown. Located at 120 Commercial Street for two years before moving to 135 Bradford Street for its final year, Blues Bag was a focal point of Provincetown’s large and robust hippie culture in the late 1960s. It brought folk and blues superstars to town, like Tom Rush, Tim Buckley, Dave Van Ronk, Mississippi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker, Leonda, and Marsha Smith, as well as Arlo Guthrie and Richie Havens. It also provided a home to up and coming musicians and local songwriters to present new works. 

While live music has always been a big part of Provincetown’s cultural life and offerings, the years Blues Bag was open were clearly influential as it deepened the connections between Provincetown and New York City, particularly Greenwich Village and its important folk scene. These posters, held in various private collections, illustrate those
folk glory years in Provincetown.