I'd better shut up - I can see that will really annoy you.

It's each to their own in this world, Al - & I know I'm alone in listening to old Traditional Singers for the pure sonic joy of the thing (rather than by way of 'research' academic or otherwise).

Oddly enough Joan Baez is someone I only heard just yesterday on account of a 'parallel routes' crisis. Eevery time we do one of our new songs from our Harry Smith set, people say it's a Joan Baez song. Weird really - to us it's a Buell Kazee song, but out of curiosity I listened to the Baez version yesterday morning. Nice enough, but I think I'll stick with Buell Kazee. I suppose it's all question of reality, rather than authenticity, which is something else altogether. You get authenticity in Model Railway Circles; you also get enthusiasts, but the real thing is the heart of soul of what this music is about.