KEVIN McCORRY, HOST: I’m Kevin McCorry and this is ‘Jukebox Journey.’
[MUSIC: “Mole’s Moan” by Tom Rush]
KM: This week: Ahead of the Philadelphia Folk Festival this weekend, it’s 60 plus years of the fest through the eyes of its organizers.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: The yearly ritual takes place at the Old Pool Farm in Upper Salford Township in Montgomery County, and has grown a cult-like following since its inception in 1962.
MICHAEL BRAUNFELD: “It is just nonstop partying and jamming in song circles all through the night when we’re not running the stages. It is, it’s just magical.”
KM: Michael Braunfeld has been part of the fest for practically his entire life. Spectator. Board member. Performer. And now music director.
Like many of the die-hards, he’s part of a long lineage.
ANDY BRAUNFELD: “We’ve got 60-plus years of generations of families who have attended this event.
KM: Andy Braunfeld is Michael’s dad and a long-time organizer.
AB: “It’s uncanny. I couldn’t even tell you how many of our current crop of attendees were actually conceived at the festival so many years before. I shudder to think of it actually.”
KM: The festival was born in the wake of the rising folk movement of the late 1950s.
Andy: “Several of the founders of the Folk Song Society got behind it and said, ‘Why not? Can’t be that hard’….And they were wrong about that. But they did it anyway.”
KM: Through the years, it’s hosted the biggest names in the genre. From Bonnie Raitt to John Prine, heard here in 1974:
[MUSIC: “Sam Stone” by John Prine, played live at Philadelphia Folk Festival 1974]
KM: Doc Watson to Richie Havens, here in 1981.
[MUSIC: “What About Me” by Richie Havens, played live at the Philadelphia Folk Festival 1981]
KM: And Emmylou Harris to Jackson Browne, heard here in 2006:
[MUSIC: “Late for the Sky” by Jackson Browne, played live with David Lindley at the Philadelphia Folk Festival 2006]
KM: And, way back to the very first year, when Andy was there in the grass to watch Pete Seeger.
[MUSIC: “The Bells of Rhymney” by Pete Seeger]
AB: “It was wonderment. Nobody had ever been to anything like that around here.”
MB: “The true power of folk music is probably rooted in the songs about social justice, protest music, and speaking up for the need for change and, encouraging that change in society.”
KM: Part of the festival’s lore is how performers have covered and reinterpreted each other’s work through the decades.
[MUSIC: “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell, live at The Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1968]
KM: Joni Mitchell did her hit at the 1968 festival, with notable covers later, including by Greenwich Village icon Dave Van Ronk.
[MUSIC: “Both Sides Now” by as covered by Dave Van Ronk]
AB: “ Here’s this hulky guy with a voice somewhere between bronchitis and scotch. And somehow he seems to make this song more understandable. Joni Mitchell was always a bit of a mystic to me. Van Ronk was just the opposite. He came right at you.”
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: As the festival has continued into its sixth decade, the road has had its share of bumps. Staying financially solvent while evolving with the times to attract a new audience has been a challenge. But the dream is still alive, in large part thanks to the sweat and tears of its devoted community. Something embodied by the participatory style of Tom Rush.
[MUSIC: “Galveston Flood” by as performed live by Tom Rush for a Philadelphia Folk Society event in 2025]
AB: “You have to understand that from the beginning, uh, this festival was created by the efforts of 1,500 to 2,000 or more volunteers. And, uh, if it were not for a very unhealthy, uh, emotional over-investment of those 2,000 people, this festival never would have gotten this far…. And, you know, you’re a festival-goer till you die, or at least until you can’t sleep on the rocks and the mud anymore. Uh, but it is community, and, uh, most of those 2,000 people will tell you that that farm is home to them regardless of where they actually live….I don’t know that that’s the way you would write the book on how to stay mentally healthy, but, uh, it, it is accurate.”
KM: I’m Kevin McCorry and this has been a Jukebox Journey on WHYY. And you can catch the 2026 Folk Fest, which is now underway, with a slate of acts running through this Sunday evening.
[MUSIC: “Benediction” as performed live by John Flynn at the Philadelphia Folk Festival 2025]
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