I remember the day at Oak Park High School in '57 or so when "Beanie" Greening said "My Mom is staring a folk music school." It became the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago after it moved downtown from her home in Oak Park. Frank Hamilton was one of the first teachers. The Bob Gibson bio says that the Gate of Horn opened in 1956, inspired by Ken Nordine's Off-Beat Room for his "word jazz." In Chicago, there was also a deli place, the Fickle Pickle on Wells, that had folk music, but nobody listened. I was there one Saturday afternoon about '59 or so and these two guys were trying to sing and tell jokes but nobody payde them any attention - it was the Smother Brothers!! But I always thought that the first professional folksinger was Aristide Bruant in Paris. And that Sam Hinton from San Diego was the fist person in the US at least billed as a folk singer. True?? Chris in Portland