Andy Cohen is a blues musician who, when he’s not on the road touring, resides in Memphis Tennessee. He plays mostly southeastern music that he found on old 78 RPM records. Andy’s performances include blues, gospel, country dance music, fiddle tunes, ballads, classic rags, country songs, and boogies. If there’s one thing Andy loves as much as playing blues, that would be talking about the blues.
I lived in Asheville, North Carolina in the mid 1970s. And I met a man there, his name was Walt Phelps, and he could play a little bit of guitar. And I asked him where he was from, and he said, I’m from Lawrence, South Carolina. And he was born in the same year as [Reverend Gary] Davis. He was in his close to 80 when I met him. I said, when you were a kid, did you know a blind kid that could pick his ass off? And he said, yeah, you’re talking about Gary Davis. I knew him, and I knew his brother, Buddy Pinson. I knew them both. And then he proceeded to take my guitar and he played “Candyman” just exactly like Reverend Davis taught me.
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Links
- Andy’s website: http://www.andycohenmusic.com/
- Various music recordings at Wendy’s website: https://www.pelicancrossing.net/mp3s.htm
- Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics, by Phil Jamison Buy the book
- Riverlark label: http://www.riverlark.com/oldtimecds/
- Cornell Folk Song Society: http://cornellfolksong.org/
- Harry Orlove: http://harryorlove.com/
- Bottle Hill band at Fox Hollow Folk Festival 1970:
https://archive.org/details/bottle-hill-fox-hollow - John Roberts and Tony Barrand:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberts_and_Barrand - Dave van Ronk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Van_Ronk
- The Duhks: https://duhks.com/
- Eliza Carthy: https://eliza-carthy.com/
- Martin Carthy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Carthy
- Rev Gary Davis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverend_Gary_Davis
Media
Reverend Gary Davis:
Andy Cohen, “Franklin Blues”:
Ray Fisher, singing Willie’s Lady: