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Richard Fariña, a Cuban/Irish American from Flatbush, New York, dropped out of Cornel in 1959 and moved to Greenwich Village just in time for the great American folk scare. He married folksinger Carolyn Hester and went on tour with her as her manager. While in Europe with Hester Fariña met Joan Baez’s sister, Mimi, and was soon divorced from Hester and living in California with his new 17 year old wife. The Baez sisters were the daughters of physicist Albert Baez and had lived in California, Boston, Baghdad, Paris and finally back to California, growing up.

Richard and Mimi wrote some songs and began performing them, starting with the 1964 Big Sur Folk Festival. They recorded two albums for Vanguard Records before Richards death in a motorcycle accident in 1966. Mimi went on to found Bread and Roses, a non-profit organization that brings live music into prisons, hospitals and nursing homes. The double LP “Bread and Roses” is a recording of a fund raising concert that she held for the organization.

Of course Richard and Mimi made an appearance on Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest television show. Here they sing one of the songs that Richard co-wote with Mimi’s sister Pauline.

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