Tompkins Corners will welcome back the Down Hill Strugglers, an old-time string band based simultaneously out of Kentucky and Brooklyn, NY. This is the third of four events in this year’s John Cohen Memorial Music Series.

Some of the best traditional American music, blues, gospel and hillbilly, was recorded on commercial 78 rpm records during the 1920s & 30s. The Downhill Strugglers keep that music alive with new interpretations. They have released albums on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and Jalopy Records and are featured on the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film, “Inside Llewyn Davis,” produced by T-Bone Burnett.

The Strugglers are Eli Smith, with whom we collaborate on this series, Jackson Lynch and Walker Shepard.

John Cohen, who became their mentor and bandmate, co-founded Tompkins Corners in 2015. He was a musician, photographer, and filmmaker who performed and documented the traditional music of the rural South and played a major role in the American folk music revival. John played with the Strugglers at every Brooklyn Folk Festival since the beginning, as well as at every Washington Square Park Folk Festival and many more all across the country, including at the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, the Newport Folk Festival and more.

A quote about the Strugglers, written by John Cohen:

“They have built their repertoire from some of the best music of the past and they keep it alive and lively. They have found resonance with the intensity of rural music, while delighting in the nuances that preserve the individual uniqueness of the genre. This is music that will keep your mind dancing.”

Tickets are $20 and may be purchased HERE. Students are Free.