The New Lost City Ramblers

Lovers of traditional American folk music owe a debt of gratitude to The New Lost City Ramblers, a folk group formed by Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tom Paley in 1958. The band based their style almost entirely on old 78rpm pre-war recordings of American folk songs and were obsessional about playing music which was true to its origins rather than playing updated versions of old songs sanitised for modern audiences. Their second album 'Songs from the Depression' (1959) is a seminal work which features many political songs from the Great Depression and each track with the exception of 'Keep Moving' was lifted from commercially available 78s from the period. The album serves as a cultural snapshot of life during one of America's darkest periods and is viewed by critics as an important and authentic reflection of music from that era. Paley left the band in 1962 to be replaced by Tracy Schwarz who remained with the band for the rest of his career. The band lost its impetus during the late 1960s and for a period the members drifted apart and became involved in other musical projects. For a short time Schwarz and Seeger formed The Strange Creek Singers. Seeger, Paley and Cohen have all passed away leaving Schwarz as the only living survivor of one of America's most important folk bands. Collectively they created a recording legacy of some 30 albums containing many of America's best loved traditional songs.

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