Program from early Sweet's Mill gathering.

Long time Mill person, Tom Ninkovich recalls:

"Sweet's Mill, was the best thing happening in folk music that I knew of on the west coast. At the time, I went from folk festival to folk festival, checking them all out, Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego and Idyllwild. Sweet's Mill was the least academic. It was a community of people getting together and having a good time. Some were interested in the academic part of it. When I first got into it, in 1963, and '64, it was a lot different than it was a few years later in the sense that the people involved were not very steeped in folklore or academia except for Gene Bluestein.

 

He was our hero in a lot of ways. There was a podium and he gave a lecture. He got a standing ovation because he was bringing this new approach.

I remember getting goose bumps listening to people sing Carter Family the first time. The first time I heard shape note singing with all the parts, that was incredibly moving, emotional for me. I'll never forget that. It was probably up at the Mill in 1964."

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