Sounds of History: Folk

By: Michelle K. Berry

1965 was a momentous year in the United States for many reasons. The Delano Grape Boycott began, the Supreme Court case that allowed for contraception in married relationships, Griswold v. Connecticut, was decided, the Voting Rights Act passed, and a Jewish kid from far eastern Minnesota on the banks of Lake Superior changed folk music forever. It was the year that Bob Dylan famously “went electric” by hitching his guitar to an electified amplifier. The audience at the Newport Folk Festival reacted with intrigue and horror in equal parts.

The second annual Sounds of History event, Folk, organized by the Public History Collaborative and the Tucson Folk Festival, commemorated the event with live music from four bands on a gorgeous spring day in April 2025. Borderlands Brewing sponsored the event which drew 200 attendees and raised $1000 for the festival which was celebrating its own 40th anniversary in 2025.

UArizona history professor, Kevin Gosner, spoke about Newport and its importance culturally and musically. Dr. Gosner is a musician and an aficionado of folk music. While his day job is as professor of Latin American history, he moonlights as an expert in the sounds and culture and history of Americana music. Jennie Gubner, an ethnomusicologist at UArizona, played with her band and delighted the audience by making connections between the folk tradition in the United States and developments in folk music in Argentina in the same year.

Overall, it was an extra special night of music, history, and community. Keep your eyes out for other Sounds of History events.

That’s all nonviolence is – organized love.

~ Joan Baez