I'm in the UK and I've known "Shenandoah" for ever. It was on one of the records for a toy gramophone I had as a child, but I seem to recall it was fairly widely played at the time. It may have been one of the songs we sang in school music lessons. Radio request programmes at the time played actual requests and were much more varied than programmes now, which run from a fixed playlist. I think it was probably one of those tunes which was in the general consciousness, and not limited to those with a specific interest in folk song.

I don't recall hearing it in folk clubs very often, if at all.