Not a lot of marriages reach the 50-year mark, and even fewer bands do.

But Ann Arbor-based folk group Mustard’s Retreat has always blazed its own path, weathering changes and challenges across an astonishing five decades.

To celebrate this milestone anniversary, the group has scheduled a handful of concerts— including one at The Ark on March 28—featuring all three original members, who started playing together at the Heidelberg’s Rathskeller in 1975.

David Tamulevich remembers auditioning there as a solo act when he’d only done some open mics previously and was working as a cook at the Brown Jug. Libby Glover, who would later become part of the original trio, was tending bar there when her boss asked what she thought of Tamulevich.

“I was not a seasoned performer at all,” said Tamulevich. “But she saw something in me and knew a lot of the songs I was doing. If it hadn’t been for Libby, I don’t know that I’d be doing this.”

The gig was for four hours a night, five nights a week for two months, paying $25 a night. Glover, who had lots of singing experience, began to step in and provide harmonies.

“That was the proving ground,” said Tamulevich. “That’s where I came of age. And there was enough money from those two months to buy a sound system and microphones, which we used for years.”

When Tamulevich’s two months were up, Michael Hough, a fellow cook and occasional musical collaborator, auditioned and landed the Rathskeller gig. During this time, Glover and Tamulevich started regularly joining in, and Mustard’s Retreat—named for a song Tamulevich had written a few years before—was born.

“It was very successful very quickly,” said Tamulevich. “ … One of my favorite things was the fourth hour of the night, toward closing time, and a lot of people had gone. … Yes, we did Irish drinking songs and rock ‘n’ roll stuff, but in that last hour, people really valued that because we got to do quieter, more meaningful songs.”

A couple of years into the band’s career, though, Glover moved out of state, and Hough and Tamulevich stood at a crossroads, wondering if they could still be Mustard’s Retreat if the trio was now a duo.

“It was incredibly traumatic for Michael and me,” said Tamulevich. “I remember, the last seven or eight shows we did with Libby, every show was a standing ovation. … Michael and I were like, ‘Wow. Can we do this by ourselves?’”

But then, as a duo, the first 10 performances earned standing ovations, too, so the two men kept going. “We thought, OK, we can do this. … Libby was really popular, so we had real questions about whether we could do it [without her]. But it was very rewarding to find out that we could.”

In the early ‘80s, Mustard’s Retreat transitioned from being a bar band to one that primarily played concerts. Both men pursued other lines of work while continuing to record albums and perform shows —around the country and in other parts of the world—whenever they could.

And there were inevitably bumps along the way, but the foundation remained solid. “Michael and I were a really good songwriting team for many years,” said Tamulevich. “So we had that offstage thing of writing songs and being very different and hashing those things out. But it made for really good songs because we came at it from different angles. … And whatever squabbles you might have, there’s a greater thing that you’re doing. Not to get high and mighty about it, but we really believe in what we’re doing, and that it makes a difference to people.”

In 2016, Glover moved back to Michigan, and the original trio was restored, performing and touring together once again.

But just three years later, Hough needed to step away, leaving Glover and Tamulevich as the group’s most recent iteration. The pair has continued to travel and perform regularly, with no plans to stop.

“Now that there’s almost no radio, we’re doing a service that’s been done for thousands of years,” said Tamulevich. “We’re like traveling minstrels in some way, bringing entertainment and news and connection among these various communities. … We take that seriously.”

And with Hough traveling from Oscoda to play in the group’s upcoming golden anniversary concerts, the group will have a few opportunities to absorb the enormity of this milestone.

“We’re all really grateful for this,” said Tamulevich. “On one hand, it’s really hard. It’s a lot of rehearsing, it’s a lot of time away from home and on the road. Managing a career in folk music … there’s not much out there and not much money. But it’s really, really rewarding. … And we’re glad to still be doing music. Nobody ever thought it would last this long.”

Jenn McKee is a former staff arts reporter for The Ann Arbor News, where she primarily covered theater and film events, and also wrote general features and occasional articles on books and music.

Mustard’s Retreat performs March 28 at The Ark, 316 South Main Street, Ann Arbor. For tickets, visit The Ark’s website.