Of all of the acts to emerge during the folk revival of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, few displayed more reverence to the singing and playing styles of prewar musicians than The New Lost City Ramblers. The Ramblers were less pop artists than musical archaeologists attempting to revive a past era through song. On New Lost City Ramblers—the first of a long string of full-lengths that the group would record for the Folkways imprint—John Cohen, Mike Seeger, and Tom Paley try their hand at 18 prewar tunes by outfits like The Dallas String Band, The North Carolina Ramblers, and The Skillet Lickers. Though Cohen, Seeger, and Paley were only in their mid-20s when they recorded this, their instrumental techniques were already formidable. Particularly remarkable are the group’s lively takes on Buell Kazee’s haunting “East Virginia” and The Carter Family’s “Sailor on the Deep Blue Sea.” Though the Ramblers’ performances here sometimes lack the inspired unruliness of the original recordings, their debut is nonetheless excellent and certainly played a pivotal role in getting the folk revival underway.