Don't misunderstand what I was trying to say Martin. What I said was not meant as a knock on the commercial end of folk music at all.   I do play a lot of traditional music on my radio show, but I also have a great respect for the commercial artists and music of the 1960's, and I think there are a number of great songwriters who are carrying on the folk music in a different vein.   Folk music is a living tradition.

When I joked about the "deflowering" of folk music in the 60's, I was serious.   Folk music was no longer the fodder of academia, it was back on the streets where it belongs.   More importantly, people were SINGING.   Folk music was participatory again.

I do disagree with your one point about "Folk music as entertainment opened the door to traditionalists."    It was the work of the collectors who gave the tools to what eventually became the Folk Revival.