"Ramblers and Strugglers: Old time Music in the Big City"

"Old time Music in the Big City": Down Hill Strugglers & Four o'clock Flowers

Even with its park views, Fifth Avenue is about as far as you can get from the forested hills and hollers that first produced old-time music. But now two outstanding contemporary folk groups, the Down Hill Strugglers and the Four o'clock Flowers, are bringing old-time, blues and gospel music to the Museum of the City of New York. The Strugglers will be joined by legendary musician John Cohen, originally of the New Lost City Ramblers, a "citybilly" trio who first introduced many New Yorkers to Southern mountain and bluegrass music in the '50s and '60s. Between songs, Cohen and Eli Smith of the Strugglers will talk about their efforts to enrich the musical tapestry of New York with rural string-band, blues, and other forms of folk music.