Music

Tracing the Roots of Country Music

In 1961, 29-year-old John Cohen, then an up-and-coming photographer and musician, left his home in New York, hopped into a van, and drove south. His mission? Collect the songs and sounds of Appalachia’s old time musicians. The music he recorded on that trip—in the hollers, bar rooms, living rooms, and front porches of small Southern towns—and on the trips that followed would not only influence the course of American music but would eventually be deemed so significant that the Library of Congress would acquire his archive.

Cohen also took photographs. And those pictures, most of which have never been seen before—the negatives sat forgotten in a basement for sixty years—are now collected in a revelatory new book, Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road.

Click through to see a gallery of his photographs.

By Bill Shapiro

September 11, 2019

View as Slideshow

Dock Walsh, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, 1961.

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Dock Walsh, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, 1961.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

Flatt & Scruggs Band, Iron City, Tennessee, 1961.

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Flatt & Scruggs Band, Iron City, Tennessee, 1961.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

A sign in the dressing room at Sunset Park, West Grove, Pennsylvania.

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A sign in the dressing room at Sunset Park, West Grove, Pennsylvania.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

Dale Poe and Uncle Charlie Higgins, Galax, Virginia, 1961.

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Dale Poe and Uncle Charlie Higgins, Galax, Virginia, 1961.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

Farmers at auction, Galax, Virginia, 1961.

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Farmers at auction, Galax, Virginia, 1961.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee, 1961.

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Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee, 1961.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

Luther Davis, auctioneer, Galax, Virginia, 1961.

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Luther Davis, auctioneer, Galax, Virginia, 1961.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

Pearly “Grandma” Davis and family, Roaring River, North Carolina, 1961.

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Pearly “Grandma” Davis and family, Roaring River, North Carolina, 1961.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys, Hazard, Kentucky, 1962.

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Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys, Hazard, Kentucky, 1962.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

Mr. & Mrs. John Sams and family, Combs, Kentucky, 1959.

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Mr. & Mrs. John Sams and family, Combs, Kentucky, 1959.

Photo: From <i>Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road</i> by John Cohen, published by powerHouse Books

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