Credit: Far Out / Daniel Case / David Gans

Bob Dylan, The Band and the modern folk legacy of the Catskill Mountains

Tue 7 April 2026 0:00, UK

In March of 2025, I happened upon a record that would become one of my favourites of all time.

After a well-placed suggested Instagram post, I flicked on Earthstar Mountain, the album of Hannah Cohen whose press shot had been digitally dumped my way. My initial scepticism – fostered by the algorithmic nature of this recommendation – swiftly fell away after the runtime of the first track.

‘Dusty’ ushered in a near-perfect record of groove-tinged folk that whispered like the cool winds of the proverbial mountain that inspired the track. It felt transportative and meditative, and came as absolutely no surprise to me that the entire record was inspired by a place that delivered countless albums along with it.

“There’s so many artists that for hundreds of years have been coming up here. And there’s some energy and synergy there for sure,” she explained when asked why she moved to the Catskills to set up a home studio.

She continued, “It’s changed the way that I observe anything, observe time, the way that I spend time with people, the way that I experience anything. When you’re so immersed in nature, and you see the rot and repeat every season and year, I’ve become closer and just more attuned with where I am and who I am. And that is like the great takeaway of, like, moving up here is like, that’s why it’s an ode to the Catskills. It’s like more of a thank you.”

Just two hours from New York City, it marks a stark contrast to the haze of city life – it’s a place that offers a sigh of relief to its musical voyagers and, as such, created a generational community of artists desperate to keep the legacy going. In Cohen’s circle alone, her partner Sam Evian can be found regularly, introducing Sufjan Stevens, Clairo and even Britain’s Willie J Healey to the mix.

Those guys aren’t breaking ground, but instead watering it and keeping a long-lasting legacy afloat. Because this new troupe of East Coast folk heroes aren’t the first to connect their music to the mountains, as Cohen rightly points out – back in the 1960s, Bob Dylan made his way up to the Catskills with The Band to create Dylan’s Basement Tapes album and The Band’s Music from Big Pink.

In their harmonies, melodies, and loose sense of collaboration, Dylan and The Band managed to capture the calm solace of the Catskills and a refuge from the relentless pace of New York City.

In fact, it’s worth asking, would the euphoric relief of The Band’s seminal track ‘The Weight’ feel as liberating were it not for the cool mountain air inspiring them? Would Dylan have captured escapism in ‘Goin’ To Acapulco’ had he not discovered it himself? And would Hannah Cohen have made a return after five years of musical absence, had the Catskill Mountains not brought one more tune out of her?

Something clearly exists in the water up there, comforting confused artists into a renewed sense of creativity that has often saved or regenerated a career.