May 1, 2014 / Modified may 2, 2014 1:38 p.m.

The Tucson Folksingers Reunion

Tucsonans who were united by a love of music more than 50 years ago reunite to take part in the Tucson Folk Festival.

tucson folk singers gathering spotlight A photo taken in the late 1950s at a living room gathering of The Tucson Folksingers.

michael cooney portrait Folk singer Michael Cooney

On Sunday, at the 29th Annual Tucson Folk Festival, a group of current and former Tucson residents will assemble for the first time in more than fifty years.

The Tucson Folksingers were originally active from 1955-62. The group held weekly gatherings, where people from all walks of life shared music, friendship, and a growing awareness of the tumultuous politics of the era.

This year, as many as 10 members of the group will be reuniting to share memories and to give a public talk at the Festival. This reunion is being filmed to create a documentary, an effort funded in part by the Humanities Council and the Tucson-Pima Arts Council.

For this interview, Mark McLemore was joined by Clyde Appleton, a retired music teacher who is considered the Tucson Folksinger's founding member, Barbara Elfbrandt, a retired educator who also worked for the United Nations, and Michael Cooney, a "98 percent retired" musician and singer who now lives in the state of Maine.

Listen:

Here is a complete version of Michael Cooney singing and playing banjo on "The Frozen Logger", an American folk song written in 1928 by James Stevens:

michael cooney w banjo azpm studio
Robert Jaime

Watch their interview for AZ Illustrated Arts

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona