NPR

Banjo Player, Folklorist, Photographer and Filmmaker John Cohen Has Died

A member of the New Lost City Ramblers, Cohen celebrated American roots culture in many mediums, including his celebrated photography. He died Monday at age 87.
John Cohen, onstage with the New Lost City Ramblers in New York City in 2006.

John Cohen straddled two worlds: as a photographer, he immersed himself in the avant-garde visual arts scene of 1950s New York; as a musician, he was an integral part of that city's folk revival of the same era. He was a member of the seminal New Lost City Ramblers and he used every platform he could — photography, filmmaking, writing and record producing — to preserve and celebrate the music he loved. Cohen died Monday at

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