Deckman, last November I had the pleasure - no, honor - of introducing being the MC for a concert that they gave here in NJ.   Bob Shane said something that I found very interesting. He said that the Kingston Trio never claimed to be "folk" musicians, they were entertainers. They are, good ones too.

This conversation reminds me of an article that I found in an old copy of Time Magazine. It was dated November 22, 1962 and it was an issue that featured Joan Baez on the cover.   The article was about the folk revival that was going on. The closing paragraph stated:

"Folk singing may be a fad just now, but it will never roll off like the Hula Hoop. As its long history demonstrates, it has staying power. It has something that people who are constantly bathed in canned entertainment can do for themselves. At its best, it unpretentiously calls up a sense of history. It shines with language in which short words and images go long distances, upstream all the way against main currents of polished grammar. And, unpontifically, it dusts off the sturdier and simpler values of American life - some of which are against the law:
You just lay ther by the juniper,
While the moon is bright,
Watch them jugs a-filling
In the pale moonlight."

It holds true today. Those words, written 42 years ago, probably are the best I've ever heard of defining "folk music".

The article itself describes the "scene" and many of the players of the day.   The Kingston Trio is mentioned as well as how purists labeled them as "Impures or Popularizers". But the article says "...carping aside, the Kingstons are accomplished entertainers, and many of their critics, Johnny-come-latelies to purity, forget that they probably woudl never have heard of folk music if they had not been first attracted by a heel-stomping ditty rendered by the Kingston Trio".

Well put.   

Take care of yourself Bob!