It's a shame I can't bookmark the spot on this thread where I had to leave off; reading a PC screen with a white background gets my eyes...of course, it's allergy season, too. That said, this is a great thread. Although I don't know many names on it, it certainly shows the breadth and strength of folk music. Thanks for the history.
A number of comments people have made brought back things I'd forgotten. While I was blessed to be in Chicago from 1968-72, I got to see many "name" bands or groups like Peter, Paul and Mary, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Laura Nyro, it seems I'd forgotten Steve Goodman, the coffeehouses like No Exit that someone mentioned, and the fact that I played in two college coffehouses back then, reluctantly. I suffer from performance anxiety. Imagine my dismay at having to fill in for one of my friends who played the autoharp. I had just learned acoustical guitar a year earlier and once got to play a twelve-string during a protest picket-line..."Blow Your Horn For Peace" was one of our logos, and "They Shoot Students, Don't They?" (mine, btw)(re: Kent State and the U. of Mexico students)

The song I had to quickly learn? Appropriately enough, "Helpless." Not one of my favorites, especially after our performance.

I should mention, I took piano lessons for eight years, too, and I can play by ear better than I can read music, but it's been a long time since I've played anything. Let's not get into the 12 years of choir or the women's barbershop chorus I was in, either.

A truly unknown folk singer was introduced in 1971 at another coffehouse we used to frequent, since our stomping grounds was the Northside. The place was called Quiet Knight, and the guy who was sooo very handsome and sooo very good: John Prine. Lucky us!

Peace and goodwill.