About Us
Specializing in traditional music culture from the Southern United States, Riverlark Music celebrates the diverse blend of fiddle tunes from the British Isles, European zither-form instruments, West African bania banjo, syncopated rhythms, various guitar styles, and the ingenuity of rural American music.
History of Riverlark Music
Riverlark Music was started as a small mail order business based in Memphis, TN created and run by Larkin Bryant and her husband, Andy Cohen. Together they supported an independent record label (Riverlark Music), a catalog of mostly Southern traditional music, accessories for dulcimer players, limberjacks and instrument jewelry.
Both Andy and Larkin played in all the styles of music that were sold in the catalog. Small but diverse, their musical tastes and talents were rather eclectic, including dulcimer music, old time, Gospel Blues, especially blues from around Memphis. Here, in brief, is how Riverlark Music came to be so eclectic.
Prior to the birth of Riverlark, Larkin Bryant wrote an instruction book for mountain dulcimer players called Larkin’s Dulcimer Book, first published in 1984 by Ivory Palaces. Her concept was to make a user-friendly, step by step instructional that was keyed to a companion teaching cassette.
It was immensely popular from the beginning, and its success, along with the release of her recording, Deep Like A River, enabled Larkin to establish Riverlark Music in 1987 as a vehicle for future projects. Larkin bought the copyright back in 1994 and became its publisher. The book is now in its thirtieth printing. To further augment the catalog, Larkin started carrying a few more dulcimer accessories, and recordings by other independent folk musicians. Like Topsy, the tiny company grew.
Enter Andy Cohen, country blues player and Blues scholar, who moved to Memphis to marry Larkin in September ’96. Riverlark’s next release, Oh Glory How Happy I Am (March ’97) was Andy’s tribute to the Rev’s sacred material. Some string band music was added, along with two of Andy’s previous country blues recordings. September ’98 saw the release of Lark In The Twilight, Larkin’s second recording of (mostly) traditional music from the British Isles, centered around the mountain dulcimer.
Larkin passed in April of 2021. Andy carries on as Riverlark Music LLC, reprinting the book and issuing CDs of tradition-based musicians who hadn’t yet been recorded, despite their virtuosity and deep commitment. So far there are six new CDs issued and about ten more in the pipeline, all following the direction Larkin established when she founded Riverlark forty years ago.
One way or another, what’s in Riverlark’s catalog has to do with southern traditional music and culture. The foundations of this music have origins among the English, Scottish and Irish settlers who started new lives in America, and the West African slave peoples, all of whom brought their songs and styles with them. Since many American ballads, songs and dance tunes originated in the British Isles, the Riverlark Music catalog is a patchwork of historical and revivalist recordings of music from the Southern mountains, the Piedmont region of North Carolina, Memphis and the Mississippi Delta.
