There Is No Eye: Music for Photographs
Recordings of musicians photographed by John Cohen

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
SFW CD 40091

A companion to the book of photographs, There Is No Eye (powerHouse Books, 2001), this CD presents the sounds of the musicians pictured in the book. Music for Photographs contains roots music, community music, family and homemade music in all kinds of circumstances. Appalachian music, bluegrass, Andean music, English ballad singing, gospel, blues, and Beat jazz.

Artists include: Rev. Gary Davis, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Roscoe Holcomb, Doc Watson, Carter Stanley, Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, David Amram, Elizabeth Cotton, Woody Guthrie and more.

Track listing:
1. Thank You Lord Gospel Church, Harlem
2. If I Had My Way Reverend Gary Davis
3. Have You Ever Been Mistreated Yvonne Hunter
4. I Can't Be Satisfied Muddy Waters
5. Roll On John Bob Dylan
6. Man of Constant Sorrow Roscoe Holcomb
7. Hicks Farewell Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton
8. Come All You Tenderhearted Carter Stanley
9. Young But Growing Mary Townsley
10. TB Blues Alice Gerrard and Hazel Dickens
11. John Henry Bill Monroe
12. Sally Goodin Eck Robertson
13. Twin Sisters Sidna Myers
14. Sally Johnson Charlie Higgens, Wade Ward, and Dale Poe
15. Pull My Daisy David Amram Quartet
16. So Long: Go Rufus Cohen and Wade Patterson
17. Who'll Water My Flowers Last Forever
18. Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie Elizabeth Cotton
19. Ramblin' Round Woody Guthrie
20. Love My Darling-O Alan Lomax
21. Buck Creek Girls New Lost City Ramblers
22. Paloma Blanco Huayno stringband, Sacsamarca, Peru
23. Kitchen Girl Sweet's Mill Band

Purchase There Is No Eye: Music for Photographs through Amazon
Purchase There Is No Eye: Music for Photographs through Smithsonian Folkways.

New Lost City Ramblers:
40 Years of Concert Performances

Rounder Records
ROUN0481

The New Lost City Ramblers are known far and wide as the seminal group from the '50s who sparked the folk music revival. They collaborated with many old-time musicians and worked to preserve their music and bring them from obscurity to a wider, appreciative audience. This anthology collects some of their most memorable performances from the past four decades, 16 of them previously unreleased.

John Cohen, vocals, mandolin, guitar, kazoo, banjo
Mike Seeger, vocals, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, autoharp, mouth harp, trumpet
Tom Paley, vocals, guitar, banjo, kazoo
Tracy Schwarz, vocals, fiddle, guitar

"With over two hours and nearly 50 tracks (16 of which are previously unreleased), the Ramblers are captured at various stops in their history, presenting songs that cover the whole spectrum of human emotion with all the humor, sincerity, and poignancy due them. From a somewhat unpolished rendition of Soldier's Joy from 1958, which Mike Seeger remembers as being the first song they ever played to Tracy Schwarz's unaccompanied rendition of the cowboy ballad Tom Sherman's Barroom from 1998, all the stylistic wanderings are captured. Still, no matter how big a slice of Americana they tried to capture, they were first and foremost a stringband. From note perfect versions of stringband classics like I've Always Been a Rambler and Jordan Is a Hard Road to Travel to irreverent reinventions like TooTight Rag performed with two kazoos, the Ramblers were an incredibly versatile band. And even if they weren't the most technically proficient stringband to ever take the stage, chances are they were one of the most entertaining."

- by Matt Fink, in a review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange

"The NLCR's deflation of academic ethno-musicological pomposity with excruciating puns, controlled silliness, and sparkling, authentic old-time musicianship motivated a multi-generational urban audience to personalize and re-invigorate rural culture. Although the NLCR's penetration into mainstream consciousness was minimal at most, the band and its audience influenced the nature of mainstream culture with a very distinct stage whisper. But most importantly, the NLCR was and remains one hot little band, as evidenced by this outstanding collection.

The entire breadth of the NLCR repertoire is covered. Examples of classic string band recreations, solo ballad singing, Cajun music, jug-band blues, re-interpretation of material from cornerstone performers of traditional music such as Dock Boggs, early commercial country music, and newly-composed songs in traditional styles are spiced with trademark near- surrealistic humor concerning the travails of rural life in and around the imaginary hamlet of New Lost City."

- by Steve Senderoff, in a review written for the Old-Time Herald

Purchase New Lost City Ramblers: 40 Years of Concert Performances through Amazon.