John Cohen was a Renaissance Man. Not only did he excel in the fields of music (as a founding member of The New Lost City Ramblers) and photography, but he served as a reference, source and inspiration for people as diverse as the Coen brothers, Ken Burns, and Patti Smith. As part of the late 50s and early 60s downtown New York art scene of Beats, Happenings, and Abstract Expressionists, Cohen’s photographs of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Franz Kline, Alice Neel, Mercedes Matter, and his neighbor Robert Frank reside in the collections of museums across the US, and in the UK and Peru.

He was an early influence on Bob Dylan and photographed him in his loft as a 21-year-old guitar player shortly after Dylan’s arrival in New York. Cohen was also the one to coin the term “High Lonesome Sound” to describe old-time American mountain music. This same John is the one referred to in the Grateful Dead’s song, “Uncle John’s Band”. 

John Cohen’s influence extends beyond our planet with his recording of a Peruvian girl singing a wedding song on the golden disc on the Voyager spaceship. His non-photographic archive is housed at the Library of Congress’ Folklife Center. 

For more on his life, we invite you to explore his website.