FOLK HEROES: Members of the Princeton Folk Music Society have been busy planning their 60th anniversary season in 2025. From left are Frank Kubitsky, Dave Leonard, Bill Houston, Robert Ey, Mary Curtis, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Peter Hester, Madhumita Chakrabartti, Peter Kernast, Alexandra Radbil, Lisa Roth, and Walt Miziuk. Not present: Pat McDonnell and Anne Gribbon.

By Anne Levin

From its earliest days on the Princeton University campus, the Princeton Folk Music Society (PFMS) has been an active participant in the local music scene. What started in 1965 as an informal organization holding group sings soon grew into a nonprofit presenting such noted folk artists as Mick Moloney, Beppe Gambetta, and Elizabeth Cotton, a tradition that continues today.

The PFMS, which brings the duo Mustard’s Retreat to Christ Congregation Church on Friday, November 15 at 8 p.m., is about to enter its seventh decade. To mark this milestone, the 2025 season has been curated to include an especially diverse roster of musical events. Among them are John McCutcheon, The Ebony Hillbillies, Poor Man’s Gambit, and a Phil Ochs Song Night, to name a few.

“Sixty years is a big deal,” said Peter Kernast, a long-serving member of the PFMS board who hosts a radio show, “Legacy with Peter Kernast,” on the College of New Jersey’s channel WTSR. “To exist for 60 years couldn’t be done without the effort and time and work that people have put in. People do it for the love of the music, the history, and the meaning of what this music is.”

The PFMS actually dates a bit further than 60 years, “largely through the initiatives and leadership of Yvonne Aronson,” reads a release on the anniversary season. “Drawing folks from the Princeton community, Aronson began organizing and leading informal folk music sings. Then, in 1965, a more formal organization that could sustain a budget and sponsor concerts and additional activities, was established and incorporated.”

In those early days, a majority of the members were University students who took part in concerts and monthly sings on the campus.

“Members would gather and perform on their instruments, participate in sing-alongs, or just listen and enjoy the camaraderie,” reads the release. “In addition, and to more actively engage with the community, some members performed at local bookstores or venues and community events. Others became professionally recognized musicians.”

Just what folk music is, and how to define it, “is an open-ended term,” said Kernast. “Everyone gives you a different definition. It’s an ongoing discussion that people who talk about music discuss all the time.”

What everyone does agree on is that folk music is built on the oral traditions of many communities in different parts of the world. “The immigrants that came to this country had their own traditions, stories, and songs,” said Kernast. “Some grew out of the lore of their communities — whether it was from the British Isles, the African American experience, or Europe — It’s pretty broad.”

The 60th anniversary season begins in January with fiddler Mari Black, and continues throughout the year with blues, Americana, Celtic, country, bluegrass, African American string band, and more. The season will conclude with a presentation by author Michael Gabriele about folk music history and tradition in New Jersey, along with a celebration of the life and music of Pete Seeger.
Though the performers are well known professionals, the concerts are kept intimate enough to allow for interaction with the performers during intermissions.

“While some activities have ebbed and flowed over the years, the PFMS continues as an all-volunteer organization committed to its mission of preservation, presentation, and promotion of folk music in all its diversity in the greater Princeton community and beyond,” reads the release.

“We’re trying to keep that tradition going,” said Kernast. “We also have to continue with how things are moving, and how the dynamic has been changing. If you look at our program for the anniversary year, it’s pretty diverse.”