SF Bay Area Folk Music History
SF Bay Area Folk Music History
revised 8/24/26
San Francisco Folk Music Club (1948-present)
San Francisco Free Folk Festival (1977-present)
El Cerrito Free Folk Festival (2009-present)
Bay Area Country Dance Society (BACDS) (1981-present)
The Freight (formerly the Freight & Salvage) 1968-present
Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center (1973-present)
Festival of the Sea/Sea Music Festival (??-present) - held at Hyde Street Pier/SF Maritime National Historical Park (National Park Service). The 1979 festival was recorded and issued as a Folkways LP; the only liner notes in my copy of the LP are song lyrics, with no additional information (beyond the info on the jacket) about the festival or the performers.
Bluegrass and Old Time
Bluegrass & old-time music in the San Francisco Bay Area: 1959-2001 - by Peter Thompson
No Longer Active:
Julie's Place (1980-1994) - see Julie Bidou
Castle Folk Club (1983-2000) - British-style folk club organized by Dick Holdstock & Allan MacLeod
Plowshares Coffee House (1977-1998) - concert series produced by the San Francisco Folk Music Center at Fort Mason (SF)
Susan Wageman's website - stories, research background, etc
Plowshares Coffee House: People, Music & Community - masters thesis by Susan Wageman (2017)
Berkeley Folk Festival (1958-1970). organized by Barry Olivier. The archive at Northwestern Unversity includes information and an extensive collection of photographs & ephemera. Also see Michael Kramer's website.
Berkeley Free Folk Festival - held for a few years at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (Cedar St and Bonita St, Berkeley)
San Francisco State Folk Festival. held for several years in the 1960's. There are some photos in the Northwestern University Berkeley Folk Festival collection.
Western Regional Folklife Festival (1974-1984) - funded & organized by the National Park Service and curated by Karana Hattersley. Mostly held at Fort Cronkhite in the Marin Headlands; some years on the Great Meadow in the upper section of Fort Mason. The printed programs contained a wealth of information (wish I had kept them...).
In Harmony's Way - acapella chorus songs. Read the About info on this page for links to the original website, YouTube playlist for the CD, etc.
Oak Ash & Thorn - acapella songs
Faith Petric (1915-2013) - singer, activist, matron of the SF Folk Music Club
Singing for Justice (2024) - documentary by Estelle Freedman and Christie Herring. See the Events page for public showings. The film was shown on PBS in March 2025 and could someday be available again.
Oral History (audio interviews; 10 parts) - interviewed by Estelle Freedman
Ed Silberman (1953-2025) - singer, harmonica player, composer of songs and parodies, instigator
SILBERSONG - The Songs and Parodies of Ed Silberman, compiled by Casey Casebeer
Julie Bidou (1918-2018) - singer; house concert organizer
Lani Herrmann (1936-2021) - singer, musician, archivist, editor of revised edition (1990) of Sam Henry's Songs of the People
Kate Wolf -(1942-1986) - singer/songwriter
Barry Olivier (1935-2023) - co-founder of the Berkeley Folk Festival (see above). wikipedia entry
Dick Holdstock (1934-) - singer, specializing in traditional British & sea songs; author (Again With One Voice, British Songs of Political Reform, 1768 to 1868)
Again with One Voice presentation at Bird & Beckett Jan 2024 (with Patience Young)
Kirston Koths (1948-2024) - contra dance caller & organizer
Chuck Ward (?-2021) - dance musician
Brad Foster - dance caller & organizer
Sharon Green - English dance caller, choreographer & organizer