Joe Cromwell's New York City Folk Music is about the people you meet on any street in New York City. Office workers. cab drivers, waitresses, construction workers, messengers, doctors, lawyers, Indian Chiefs, rich people, poor people, all kinds of people. This site will give you a feel for what my music is all about. Go to the "Listen" page for a sample selection of complete songs.  

Everyone is familiar with VIPs, because they are always in the spotlight. You seldom hear about the LUPS who do the work that makes things happen in any collective effort.

"The LUPS"(defined as "little unimportant people" or "loving unappreciated people", depending upon whether you are a boss or a LUP) is a song about the human race and who is winning it. Is it the VIPS who focus on the race or the LUPS who focus on being human?

"Organization Man" gives some insite into the management people who "evaluate things they don't know about" (basic assumptions) and develop strategic plans. They "Make all the simple things complicated. Hire lawyers to pontificate with n ". The inevitable result is the scourge of all organizations: meetings.

"The Meeting Song" laments "We have meetings to plan our future meetings and meetings to review our meeting plans"..... and offers hope for the afflicted: "once upon a time, someone made a decision and the need for fifty meetings went away. We started getting rich, so we fired that son of a bitch, but we meet about him till this very day".

"The Hooker Lady From New York City" tells the story of a country boy's first visit to New York. He came expecting to meet a lot of cold and unfriendly city people and is pleasantly surprised when he meets a city girl who is very pretty and very very friendly -- for a price.

"Street Hustler"is about one of the ubiquitous street peddlers who hawk their wares on the street, just one step ahead of the cops and the customers to whom they sold shoddy merchandise the day before or a few blocks away . This hustler specializes in selling gold color watches and umbrellas to people who look like they are "new to New York City" at the bargain price of "all the cash you've got". He's convinced himself that he really is a good soul because he is doing it all for Jesus. Could anyone be taken in by such a character?

"Brother Billy's Gospel Church" is a place where you can "buy a ticket to heaven on the installment plan" from another character working for the Lord and getting rich doing it. His gospel message is that " the world is full of danger on that rough and rocky road from who you are to who you want to be. And you all need a leader to help you find your way".... Not all the hustlers are in the streets. This one is in the pulpit.

"Everything I Make" is about how hard it is for a working person to earn a living. City living is expensive. Everyone has empathy for the person who laments "all my folding money has been spent.... I wonder where in hell my money went."

New York City Folk isn't only about what people on the street are doing. It's also about what they are feeling.

There is the newly divorced father telling his son: "No Son She's Not Coming Home".

...a troubled wife saying's: "Before You Go"(please think it over).

... the troubled serviceman's mother pleading: "Keep Talking Peace Talker."

...  A dying man looking back on ten years of hard times on the streets and realizing that things could have been different if he chose true love over booze: "Almost".

... the wife of a man going through mid life crisis telling her husband "who goes to work each day smelling like a flower" that: "You Are Fat, Forty And Over The Hill". And on and on and on..... There are many stories to tell.

Like Country Folk Music, New York City Folk Music is pure and simple. The songs are written first to tell a story or express an emotion. The themes are familiar. The music is basic and uncomplicated. The content is about subjects and feelings with which most city people can empathize. The songs are easy to visualize.