The Return OfThe
Yodeling Jew
Andy Cohen won't be playing
"Hail To The Victors," but he'll
perform rompin' blues
and ragtime at Ann Arbor's Ark.
GARY GRAFF
THE D E TRO IT J EWIS H N E WS
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
70
bout three decades ago,
Andy Cohen was "the yo-
deling Jew" of the Detroit
folk scene. "Hey," he
says now, "everybody
needs a little shtick."
"It was a gag," re-
members Cohen, 49,
who these days
lives in Kent,
Ohio. "I used to do some Jim-
my Rogers things. It was a
way of making fun of oneself.
I don't call myself that any-
more; I wasn't that good at it
really."
What Cohen is good at is
picking; he has a facile touch
with the guitar, as well as an
encyclopedic knowledge of ear-
ly folk, blues and gospel music
that makes his performances
as educating as they are en-
tertaining.
Growing up in Sharon,
Mass., Cohen was caught by
the folk bug when he was 15,
thanks to an older
brother and "be-
cause it was the
thing to do at the
time." His brother
took him to the 1963
Brandeis Folk Fes-
tival, where the ado-
lescent Cohen was
particularly struck
by the yearning
gospel blues of the
Rev. Gary Davis —
whose music has remained a
staple of Cohen's repertoire.
"You might ask, 'What's a
nice Jewish boy doing playing
this Christian music?'" Cohen
says. "The fast fact is it's beau-
tiful. This Jewish boy does it
because it's very powerful mu-
sic. The message is generaliz-
able, not just limited to people
metro area's burgeoning folk
scene and as part of his effort
to avoid being drafted. He
stayed for about three years,
playing the circuit with stal-
warts such as
Chuck Mitchell
and Loring
James.
Since leaving
Detroit, he's been
settled in Kent,
where he earned
his master's de-
gree in anthro-
pology at Kent
State University.
Cohen has made a handful of
recordings, and he continues
to study and write about mu-
sic, specializing in Piedmont
blues. His wife, Iris Meltzer, is
manager of adolescent services
Andy Cohen makes a
ro ad trip to Ann Arbor to
pelform and visit his
daughter dt U-M
who are gentiles. I think it
speaks to everybody, just like
any great music speaks to
everybody."
Cohen made his way out to
Detroit in 1967, lured by the
at Akron Children's Hospital.
His daughter, Moira, is a
freshman at the University of
Michigan, but Cohen denies
the suggestion that his up-
coming performance at the Ark
is simply a ruse to allow him
to check up on her.
"We have many occasions to
do that, anyway," he says. "It's
only 3 1/2 hours away, right?
Come on, man — I'm a folk
singer. I do that for coffee." 0
21t Andy Cohen and David
Rice perform at 8'p.m. Sun-
day, Feb. 25, at the Ark, 637
1/2 S. Main St., Ann Arbor.
Doors at 7:30 p.m. Tickets
are $10; $9 for members.
Call (313) 761-1451.
1