After studying musicology at Columbia University in New York, David Bromberg established himself as a solo performer on the Greenwich Village folk circuit in the mid 1960s.

[8] Dylan played harmonica on "Sammy's Song", a Bromberg composition that author Simon Leng describes as "a barrier-breaking tale of a young man's sexual encounter with a prostitute".

[20] Having established himself as a folk rock recording artist and performer, Bromberg continued his parallel career as a concert and studio backing musician.

The writer commented that Bromberg had already attracted a following through his club performances and session playing, particularly with Dylan, and that his "rough and ready romper" with Harrison was sure to be of "special interest".

[27] In his album review for The New York Times, Heckman found the LP a faithful representation of the "spoken‐sung songs of whimsey and sadness" that had become familiar through Bromberg's live performances.

[17] Noel Coppage of Stereo Review deemed the album a "Recording of Special Merit" and recognized Bromberg as "a folk-blues interpreter who somehow manages to stand outside the song the way Dylan used to and the old bluesmen did".

Coppage said the record had its flaws but the artist's "superstar" potential was such that he feared widespread praise of Bromberg as "the Latest Thing" would inevitably be followed by faddist scrutiny—as had befallen Tolkien, Dylan, J.D.

[29][nb 4] By contrast, Ariel Swartley, writing in the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide, gave the album one star out of five (denoting a "poor" work).

[30] She derided all of Bromberg's albums, saying that his reputation as an amusing live performer did not carry over to his recordings, and his singing voice either "squeaks like an adolescent in the church choir" or "simply grates".