Michael Cooney

Michael Cooney entered the world in Carmel, California during 1943 as a traditional folkie. Following his parents’ divorce, his upbringing centered on Tucson, Arizona, where he passed through multiple foster homes; once high school ended, he devoted two years to freight-train hops and hitchhiking from coast to coast. He eventually put down roots in California, and by 1963 he had become a steady performer at Palo Alto’s The Top of the Tangent, sometimes sharing bills with local high-school musicians who would later coalesce into the Grateful Dead. In 1964 he resumed wandering, heading first to New York City and then to Boston; over the ensuing decades he maintained residences at scattered points across the Northeast while appearing at nearly every prominent folk festival in North America. He contributed a long-running column to Sing Out! magazine and advised numerous folk festivals, including a six-year term on the board of the Washington, D.C. National Folk Festival plus stints as artistic director for both Canada’s Mariposa Folk Festival and Philadelphia’s Maritime America Festival.