Early life Cohen was born in
Queens, New York, where his father, Israel, owned a shoe store. John spent most of his childhood in eastern Long Island, where he learned to play the guitar and banjo. He later attended Yale University where he studied painting. He later on met one of his good friends Tom Paley. They began organizing small concerts for people on their universities campus. Later on, he and Tom both moved to New York City and formed the New Lost City Ramblers. This newly formed band introduced several generations of musicians and audiences to the music styles of rural string bands from the 1920s and '30s. When living in New York, John was in the heart of a diverse world of art and music forms. He began taking photos of many painters and artists around the area, leading to his love for photography.
College career In 1958, Cohen formed the
New Lost City Ramblers with
Mike Seeger and
Tom Paley. In 1962, Paley was replaced by
Tracy Schwarz. The Ramblers introduced young urban folk music fans to the work of rural performers such as
Dock Boggs,
Elizabeth Cotten and
Blind Alfred Reed. The influence of the Ramblers has been compared to
Harry Smith's
Anthology of American Folk Music. Cohen described the outlook of the Ramblers: “We made it possible for urban-based musicians to step out of the demands of the music business and look out into America to get in touch with the genuine energy, drive and craziness out there.”
Photography/film career Cohen had taken photos and pursued photography for many years. He also enjoyed filmmaking. In 1962, he returned to Kentucky, where he spent six weeks filming the documentary
The High Lonesome Sound, which centred on Roscoe Holcomb. This documentary shows the many emotions of life among the poor in those times. It illustrates how music and religion helped people in the Appalachian region maintain hope and traditions during hard times. The title of the film became synonymous with the Appalachian music he captured) Cohen learned about weaving customs of Peru through an archaeology course at Yale. He travelled to the Peruvian Andes in 1956 to write his master's thesis on their weaving techniques. Cohen visited Peru eight times between 1956 and 2005. His work in Peru included audio recordings of Andean music and documentary films as well as books about weaving, music, festivals, and dance. In 1998, Cohen released his first solo album,
Stories the Crow Told Me. Steve Leggett wrote in
AllMusic that the record is "not so much a redefinition of Appalachian music as it is an attempt to enter it fully and completely. Cohen does this so well that the album sounds exactly like some great, lost Alan Lomax field tape, and although by definition what Cohen has done here is a facsimile, it sounds so much like the real deal that it hardly matters." Cohen was associate music producer on the movie
Cold Mountain (2003), working with
T Bone Burnett. Cohen's archive includes interviews with Harry Smith,
Roger McGuinn,
Pete Seeger,
Bob Dylan,
Gary Davis and Roscoe Holcomb. The photographs include these artists and
Willie Dixon,
Woody Guthrie,
Alan Lomax,
Bill Monroe,
The Stanley Brothers,
Merle Travis,
Muddy Waters and many others. Cohen resided in
Putnam Valley, New York. Through the 1960s, Cohen continued to make albums for Folkways. The artists included ballad singer Dillard Chandler, “Singing Miner” George Davis, and Roscoe Holcomb. Most of Cohen's recordings of Holcomb appear on two Smithsonian Folkways CDs,
The High Lonesome Sound and
An Untamed Sense of Control. Cohen's 1953 recordings of Reverend Gary Davis were released by Smithsonian Folkways on the 2003 CD
If I had My Way. In 1998, Cohen released his first solo album,
Stories the Crow Told Me. Cohen was also associate music producer on the movie
Cold Mountain (2003), working with T Bone Burnett. ==Discography==