John Cohen

Born 2 August 1932

Died 16 September 2019 (aged 87)

John Cohen (1932–2019) was a major figure in the development and appreciation of traditional music, and one of the most prolific contributors to the Smithsonian Folkways collection of recorded sounds. He was a musician, photographer, filmmaker, and record producer, but those words do not adequately describe John, whose work transcended labels and defied categorization.