During the folk boom of the early-to-mid 1960s, when every young roots enthusiast with an acoustic guitar was playing historian, the New Lost City Ramblers stood out as one of the most authentic revivalist acts. Led by John Cohen and Mike Seeger (Pete's half-brother), the band tackled the traditional repertoire of folk, blues, and old-timey string-band music with more energy and grit than staid reverence, lending personality and relevance to the sounds of a bygone time. Their late-'50s recordings helped jump-start the whole roots craze of the pre-Beatles era.