Folk Music Club (North Texas)

Former University of North Texas student organization

The Folk Music Club was an organization founded in 1963 at the University of North Texas that attracted student musicians,[1] several of whom went on with other performing artist to define a Texas music and cultural movement in Austin that grew to national prominence and left a legacy that endures today (re: Sixth Street, South by Southwest, Austin City Limits, Austin City Limits Music Festival). Its student members included Spencer Perskin,[2] Steven Fromholz, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Michael Martin Murphey, and Eddie Wilson (co-founder of Armadillo World Headquarters and current owner of Threadgill's in Austin).

## History

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Faculty sponsors

The Folk Music Club was founded and sponsored by Stan Alexander (né Stanley Gerald Alexander; 1928–2017),[3] a professor of English literature at North Texas who drew inspiration from having earlier played jam sessions (as singer and guitar player) at Threadgill's in Austin (of Janis Joplin fame) while working on his doctorate at The University of Texas.[4][5][6] Alexander sometimes referred to the Folk Music Club as "Threadgill's North." A poster promoting Michael Murphey's Cosmic Cowboy Symphony & BBQ, performing at the Armadillo World Headquarters, characterized Alexander as "The Original Cosmic Cowboy."[7] Alexander went on to be a long-time English professor at Stephen F. Austin State University. Julian O. Long (né Julian Oliver Long, Jr.; born 1937), of St. Louis, Missouri (as of 2002), was also a faculty sponsor of the Folk Music Club from 1963 to 1965.[8][9][10][11] Long was on the North Texas English faculty off and on from 1962 to 2002.[12]

Student members

Fromholz, who had enrolled at North Texas in 1963, became president of the Folk Music Club.[13] Other members included Segle Fry (Segle George Fry III; 1937–2015) and Don F. Brooks (1947–2000), harmonica player. Fromholz's first public performance was with Patty Loman and Michael Murphey. Their trio — named the "Michael Murphey Trio" — performed in an area around Denton they referred to as "The Green Bean Circuit." [14]

## Past presidents and members

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Past officers

* Steven Fromholz (1945–2014) (president)
* John Brack Barrett (born 1944) (president)

## See also

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* Progressive country

## References

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1. ^ "Folk Music Club," by Jessica DeLeón (born 1972), The North Texan (University of North Texas), Vol. 64, No. 4, Winter 2014, pps. 34–37; ISSN 0468-6659
2. ^ "The Coming of Redneck Hip", by Dan Roth & Jan Charles Reid (born 1945), Texas Monthly, November 1973, pg. 72; ISSN 0148-7736
3. ^ Stanley G. Alexander," Austin American-Statesman, April 12, 2017 (retrieved May 18, 2017)
4. ^ The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock, by Jan Charles Reid (born 1945), University of Texas Press (2004), pg. 57; OCLC 56453098
5. ^ Confessions of a Maddog: A Romp Through the High-Flying Texas Music and Literary Era of the Fifties to the Seventies, by Jay Dunston Milner, University of North Texas Press (1998), pg. 182; OCLC 45733459
6. ^ "The History of Early Bluegrass in Texas", by Rodney Frank Moag (1936– ) & Alta Campbell, Journal of Texas Music History, Texas State University, Vol. 4, No. 2 (2004), Article 4; ISSN 1535-7104
7. ^ Essay: "Michael Murphey's Cosmic Cowboy Symphony & BBQ" (essay), by Michael Priest (see concert promo poster for Alexander performing at Armadillo World Headquarters, February 23–24, 1973), by Michael Priest, from the book, Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture, Archie Green (ed.), University of North Carolina Press (2001), pps. 94–95; OCLC 51273580
8. ^ Julian O. Long, Jr. (born 1937)
9. ^ "Folk Music Club Slates Show Tonight," Denton Record-Chronicle, April 28, 1965, pg. 2
10. ^ "Folk Jam Session Set at NTSU," Denton Record-Chronicle, December 10, 1963, pg. 13
11. ^ "Sing Out Scheduled by NT Music Club," Denton Record-Chronicle, December 12, 1965, pg. 9
12. ^ "Julian Long on NTSU Faculty," Abilene Reporter-News, September 23, 1962, pg. 12-D
13. ^ Legendary Texas Storytellers, by Jim Garmon (né James Farrell Garmon III; born 1946), Plano: Republic of Texas Press (2003), pg. 107; OCLC 50243683
14. ^ Texas Trilogy: Life in a Small Texas Town,, by Craig Dwight Hillis (born 1949) (writer) & Bruce F. Jordan (born 1953) (photographer), University of Texas Press (2002); OCLC 49383587

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