Folk Music Club (North Texas)


The Folk Music Club was an organization founded in 1963 at the University of North Texas that attracted student musicians, 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. Its student members included Spencer Perskin, Steven Fromholz, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Michael Martin Murphey, and Eddie Wilson.

History

; Faculty sponsors
The Folk Music Club was founded and sponsored by Stan Alexander , a professor of English literature at North Texas who drew inspiration from having earlier played jam sessions at Threadgill's in Austin while working on his doctorate at The University of Texas. 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." Alexander, now retired, went on to be a long-time English professor at Stephen F. Austin State University. Julian O. Long , of St. Louis, Missouri, was also a faculty sponsor of the Folk Music Club from 1963 to 1965. Long was on the North Texas English faculty off and on from 1962 to 2002.
;Student members
Fromholz, who had enrolled at North Texas in 1963, became president of the Folk Music Club. Other members included Segle Fry and Don F. Brooks, 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."

Past presidents & members

Past officers