"popularity is not the same as influence"
Respectfully, you are wrong there.   Popularity has a huge influence on pop culture.   Look at pop music today - entertainers like Britanny Spears and others have a HUGE influence on defining culture. It has nothing to do with the quality of the music, but the fact that it changes the way culture evolves.

I do agree with you Bill that others had more of an influence in defining the music that we heard, but to create the entire scene was more than the work of one person or group. You are dead wrong when you declare that the Kingston Trio did not have a huge influence. The others you site certainly had a great importance, but you are failing to step back and critically examine what created the "folk scare".

"but it was the early recordings of the Weavers and Pete Seeger in particular, that put banjos and guitars in a lot of hands, and contrary to what was posted above "
That is simply an opinion, and not a fact.   Of course Seeger was a huge influence, but you can't give him sole credit. There were many who were turned on by Rev. Gary Davis or Dave Van Ronk or The Kingston Trio. The Kingston Trio were being heard on the airwaves and seen on television, all the while Seeger was blacklisted. That kind of exposure opened the eyes of many people - many who would make the step from the Kingston Trio to Seeger, not vice versa.

No one, with the exception of one or two individuals, is trying to deny the importance of Seeger, Weavers, Carter Family, etc.    It is just wrong to exclude the Kingston Trio simply because they were not your personal taste.