This gem I purchased through Hamilton Books a few years back and came across it recently while sorting books after my move. This one is also authored by John Cohen, whose book Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road I reviewed back in June (https://luegra.design.blog/2023/06/17/recommended-book-speed-bumps-on-a-dirt-road/). Cohen looks at the life of Roscoe Holcomb, a legendary Appalachian musical artist that carried on the tradition of old-time music during the 1950s and 60s while the world around him was slowly modernizing, perhaps not for the better.
Like his other book, this is primarily a photo book, with very little text other than brief captions until the very end of the book. The story can be seen in the powerful photos of Holcomb and the people that he is surrounded by. Many of these photos are also in Speed Bumps, such as Bill Monroe’s performance in Hazard, Kentucky, but they are intermingled nicely and minimally, so that the montage leans more as a personal vision of an individual, namely Holcomb.
This book chronicles Cohen’s 1959 trip to east Kentucky to meet and work with Holcomb, who at the time had left the workforce due to many injuries. He supplemented his income by performing at folk festivals and farming. The black-and-white photos say so much about what Holcomb and his family struggled with in the Appalachian Mountain area. A moving photo is one just showing his hands and how weathered that were, even for a middle-aged man.
The text toward the end of the book includes reflections about Holcomb by those that knew him, as well as a 1978 interview with Holcomb shortly before his passing. However, the icing on the cake is the CD and DVD included with the book. The CD includes 13 tracks of Holcomb performing traditional songs on banjo, guitar, harmonica and vocals. While thumbing through the book, this CD is the perfect soundtrack. The DVD contains two short documentaries on Holcomb, one filmed during a 1964 visit with him, and the other a 2010 look at his life. The 1963 doc is a treasure, like watching a grainy television show from that time period. Not only it gives a back-in-time look at Holcomb, but also a reminder on how we saw documentaries back then.
This book was originally published in 2012, and while going for over $40.00 new, a Google search shows that it can be had for under $10.00 used, although I am not sure if the CD and DVD are included or what the condition is. Like Speed Bumps, it is a worthwhile purchase if you truly appreciate where old-time music was still living while much of the other country was looking at rock-and-roll.
Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 