Blame it on a simple twist of fate—or merely the randomness of scheduling cooks at a campus restaurant.

Little did a young David Tamulevich know that when he asked to be taken off the night schedule and put on days when he was a cook at Ann Arbor’s Brown Jug in 1974 he would be embarking on a musical partnership that would endure for 40 years—and counting.

On the day shift, Tamulevich met another cook, Michael Hough, and discovered they both were musicians who already had some solo shows under their belts. They decided to play an open mic together at The Ark, and it went over so well, they were invited back to do a full show two weeks later.

They named their duo Mustard’s Retreat—after a tune Tamulevich wrote about a musical pal named Nancy Mustard—and since then they’ve become a perennial favorite, not only in southeastern Michigan but all over the folk singer-songwriter circuit.

“We didn’t know each other at all,” recalled Tamulevich. “I was incredibly impressed with (Michael’s) songwriting, and I don’t know what he was impressed by. We clicked that first night (at The Ark) … we had something special.”

Hough and Tamulevich will celebrate their anniversary with a show Friday night at—where else?—The Ark. A new album, appropriately titled "A Good Place To Be,” will also be released in honor of the musical milestone.

“I think it’s a reflection of where we are,” Tamulevich said of the title.

By day, Hough is a commercial photographer and owner of Ivory Photo, while Tamulevich operates Tamulevich Artists Management, which handles booking for many folk performers. That they can maintain busy day jobs (granted, they are the boss) and a hectic performing schedule is a testament not only to their commitment to their art but how well they get along with each other.

“I think the big secret of our success is that we are genuine, and do what pleases and entertain us, first and always,” said Tamulevich. “Yes, we are entertainers as well, and love that aspect of what we do, but that entertainment comes from a place of honesty, and connection, to ourselves and our audiences—as do the songs and stories we write.”

The duo’s songwriting and recordings have received consistently high praise, and their live performances even more so. They are also a key presence in the consistently high-quality local songwriting collective the Yellow Room Gang. Mustard's Retreat recently toured with Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary fame. Their previous album, "Living in the Dream," was released in 2011.

Besides the new CD, the duo is working on a DVD that Tamulevich said will be a bit of a historical snapshot—pieces from Ann Arbor Public Access TV in the early 1980s, the Philadelphia Folk Festival in the 1990s, clips from trips to perform in Lithuania from the past two years, and a number of songs shot at The Ark. They expect it to be out later this year.

An artistic partnership that’s been successful as long as theirs is not unlike a marriage, Tamulevich observed.

“For Michael and I, staying together, you learn a lot of tolerance and a lot of respect. You figure out how to work with each other from a position of respect. … You go through changes, but we always value the fact that it is just such a gift to be playing.

“We want the same things. We want to write good songs and do the best show that we can,” he added.

Honesty is key, Tamulevich added.

“We’re not trying to the next hot thing, or the best of anything. We’re just trying to be ourselves. ... I’ve always just wanted to be able to transmit the joy I get out of great music and great songs to people,” he said.

“We’ve been given a gift to share and a lot of people get so much out of it. We’ll do this as long as people want to hear us.

“We’re not big, not flashy, but it is who we are. And it’s gotten us this far and people like it.”