Late Summer 2024 Album Release Tour!

Hello friends,

The Down Hill Strugglers are taking to the road, with a string of shows in September, promoting our new album, Old Juniper! It's our first album in 7 years and our first of all original songs and tunes. We're excited for the tour!

Dates:

Sept. 5th - Kingston, NY

House Concert 

7pm

$10-$20 suggested donation

RSVP email: dearnicolas [at] gmail.com

Sept. 6th + 7th - Hillsdale, NY
Oldtone Music Festival

Info and Tix at: oldtone.org

Sept. 8th - Putnam Valley, NY
Tompkins Corners Cultural Center
4pm - afternoon show
Info and Tix at: tompkinscorners.org

Sept. 10th - Durham, NC
7pm doors/7:30pm start
tickets: $20
House Concert
- For tix email: Sonya.badigian [at] gmail.com

Sept. 11th - Floyd, VA
Floyd Country Store

Info and Tix at: floydcountrystore.com

Sept. 12th - Thomas, WV
The Purple Fiddle
Info and Tix at: purplefiddle.com

Sept. 14th - Baltimore, MD
The Red Room
at Normals Books and Records
425 E 31st Street
Info and Tix at: redroom.org

Sept. 15th - Takoma Park, MD
4pm afternoon show
School of Musical Traditions
Takoma Spark
7112 Willow Park Ave

Info and Tix at: schoolofmusicaltraditions.com

Sept. 17th - Nashville, TN
Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge
Details TBA

Sept. 18th - Louisville, KY

B-Side
1076 E. Washington Street
8pm doors / 8:30pm start
b-sidevenue.com

Sept. 20th - NYC
House Concert
Details TBA

Sept. 21st - Brooklyn, NY
8pm doors / 8:30pm start
Album Release Show!
Jalopy Theatre
w/ Jerron Paxton
Info and Tix at: jalopytheatre.org

New Album On the Way!

 

The Down Hill Strugglers have a new album on Jalopy Records! 

Old Juniper is their first album in seven years and also their first featuring all original songs and tunes. 

Releases August 16, 2024 

Available on all the music sites and streaming services.

— and pre-order the digital or special edition vinyl album:

https://downhillstrugglers.bandcamp.com/album/old-juniper

“These guys are a first rate string band! Walker, Jackson and Eli have absorbed the old tradition, and the songs and tunes they wrote for this album are outstanding.”

- Tony Garnier

(Bob Dylan, Asleep at the Wheel)

“If it’s possible to be at the forefront of something old, The Down Hill Strugglers are right there with this new recording! Imaginative arrangements of interesting tunes played with soul, all while reaching back to the best of the old mountain sounds.”

- Bruce Molsky

Old Juniper is available via streaming, digital download, and in a beautiful special edition 140g vinyl LP with original cover art by Jeff Tocci, liner notes by Nathan Salsburg and lyrics.

Recorded by Jon Atkinson / Bigtone Records 
Mastered by Don Fierro 

Credits: 

Walker Shepard: voice, guitar, banjo, fiddle 
Jackson Lynch: voice, fiddle, guitar, banjo 
Eli Smith: banjo, guitar, banjo-mandolin, pump organ, harmonica 

with Hannah Shepard: cello on tracks 2 and 6 
All songs and tunes by the Down Hill Strugglers 

Photo by Fernando Armenghol

A Few 2023 Summer and Fall Dates

The Down Hill Strugglers have a few dates this Summer and Fall, don't miss! And more TBA...

Wed. July 19th
The Jalopy Theatre

Roots n Ruckus show - no cover!

Set time TBA

315 Columbia Street

Brooklyn, NY 11231

JalopyTheatre.org

Sat. July 22nd

The Stissing Center
2950 Church St.

Pine Plains, NY 12567

www.thestissingcenter.org

November 10th-12th

Brooklyn Folk Festival

Set times TBA

BrooklynFolkFest.com

Spring 2022 "Mud Season" Tour Dates

Hello friends.  After a long pause in touring due to the pandemic, the Down Hill Strugglers are taking to the road!

Here are our spring, "mud season", tour dates!  We hope to see you out there.

Thurs. May 19th - Shelby, NC

Earl Scruggs Center

103 S. Lafayette St.

Shelby, NC 28150

www.earlscruggscenter.org

Fri. May 20th - Townsend, TN

Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center 

Heritage Concert Series

123 Cromwell Dr, Townsend, TN 37882

www.gsmheritagecenter.org

Sat. May 21st - Nashville, TN

House Concert

Nashville, TN

For details and tickets contact: 

DownHillStrugglers@gmail.com

Sun. May 22nd - Louisville, KY

Chapel of St. Philip Neri, Old Louisville

236 Woodbine Ave, Louisville, KY

7pm

www.oldlouisville.com

Mon. May 23rd -  Lexington, KY

Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour

Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center

300 E Third St, Lexington, KY 40508

www.woodsongs.com

Thurs. May 26th - Berryville, VA

Barns of Rose Hill

95 Chalmers Ct, Berryville, VA 22611

www.barnsofrosehill.org

Fri. May 27th - Thomas, WV

Purple Fiddle 

96 State Hwy 32, Thomas, WV 26292

www.purplefiddle.com

Sat. May 28th - Pomeroy, OH

Fur Peace Ranch

39495 St Clair Rd, Pomeroy, OH 45769

www.furpeaceranch.com

Remembering John Cohen

[John Cohen at the Jalopy Theatre. Photo by Eli Smith]

Dear Friends,

We are very sorry to announce the passing of our dear friend and bandmate John Cohen (1932 - 2019). John passed away peacefully on Monday evening at his home in Putnam Valley, NY.

John Cohen was one of the last of the first. His life and work spanned the arc of the “folk song” movement and movement towards traditional music, which he helped to create, here in New York and around the country. His breadth of knowledge and experience will not be seen again and his acuity of thought was remarkable and singular. 

[John Cohen with the Down Hill Strugglers at the 2019 Brooklyn Folk Festival.  Photo by Brian Geltner]

Here is an obituary from the New York Times with more information about John’s life and work. 

Through his work as a founder of the seminal string band the New Lost City Ramblers, his beautiful photography, films and field recordings and work as a record and concert producer, John Cohen had an indelible impact on American culture. It was not something that was supported by the music industry, and did not happen over night. Rather, the meaning and reach of John’s work continued to build over a long period of time, starting in the mid 1950’s and going up until the present time. His effect cannot be quantified. John’s work and ideas operated at a deep level and were revelatory for a great number of people. 

John Cohen had a feeling and an idea about music, visual art and culture that he followed for his entire life. He advocated for that idea relentlessly across various disciplines for 70 years. If you knew John, you knew that he had a very strong will. His work meant a great deal to him and he was tireless in that work. He also had a seemingly endless supply of great, mostly corny jokes and was always ready for a pun. Oh lord. 

We met John at the home of our mutual friend and musical collaborator Peter Stampfel in 2007.  In 2008 we started working with John and we became close friends. He toured the country with us as part of our string band, we played countless shows together. He was a teacher to us as well as a bandmate. We recorded three albums together, and he and Eli worked to produce two albums of historical reissues. 

[Warming up with John before playing at the 2019 Brooklyn Folk Festival. Photo by Brian Geltner]

Playing music and simply talking with John was a great pleasure. He raised the level of any project he worked on and taught us so much about how to hear, play and think about music. 

We will always remember cooking with him in his old kitchen at his house, having band practices there, listening to music and to his stories and learning from John.

We played with John at every Brooklyn Folk Festival since the beginning, as well as at every Washington Square Park Folk Festival, many shows here at the Jalopy Theatre and many more all across the country, including at the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, the Newport Folk Festival and more.

[The Down Hill Strugglers with John Cohen at the Washington Square Park Folk Festival]

John helped shape the ideas about music and culture that we are working with today.  Without John’s work and work by the NLCR and associates such Ralph Rinzler, Izzy Young and others, as well as his work with the Beat Generation poets and writers and more - we would not be doing what we are doing now. We would never have even thought of it.

John meant a great deal to us as an artist, cultural worker and as a friend. We will miss him very much and continue in the spirit of his work.

We send our love to his family and many friends around the world.

Spring, Summer + Fall Tour Dates

The Down Hill Strugglers are taking to the road once again 2019!  More dates TBA...

April 7th
Brooklyn, NY
Brooklyn Folk Festival
4:15pm
With the Down Hill Strugglers & John Cohen
Full schedule and tix:
www.BrooklynFolkFest.com

June 13th
Buckhannon, WV
Square Dance!
Details TBA


June 15th
Hancock Shaker Village, MA
Northeast Fiddlers Convention
With the Down Hill Strugglers & John Cohen
www.oldtonemusicfestival.com/northeast-fiddlers-convention


June 23nd
Brooklyn, NY
with the Calamity Janes
Janes at 7pm, Strugglers at 8pm
Jalopy Theatre
315 Columbia St.
www.jalopytheatre.org


July 27th
Newport Folk Festival
John Cohen with the Down Hill Strugglers
For info and tickets:
www.newportfolk.org

September 6th & 7th
North Hillsdale, NY
Oldtone Roots Music Festival
With the Down Hill Strugglers & John Cohen
See website for set times and tix:
www.oldtonemusicfestival.com

September 11th
The Public Option

Doors: 6:30pm

Show: 7:30pm  

1601 Rhode Island Ave NE,
Washington, DC

September 14th
Tompkins Corners Cultural Center
729 Peekskill Hollow Rd
Putnam Valley, NY
www.tompkinscorners.org

September 21st
Brooklyn Americana Music Festival
6pm
Power House Arena
Brooklyn, NY
www.bkamf.com

Dreamland

The Down Hill Strugglers are very excited to let people know that 3 of our songs have been included in the beautiful new film, "Dreamland."

Dreamland is an 2019 film, directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte from a screenplay by Nicolaas Zwart. It stars Margot Robbie, Travis Fimmel, Garrett Hedlund, Kerry Condon, Finn Cole and Darby Camp.

The film is set in the dustbowl era of the 1930's in the American South-West and follows two fugitives on the run to Mexico - and it is definitely dreamlike.

Thank you to Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, Patrick Higgings and all for including us in this project.