I want to remind posters above, especially the Guest above with his result theory, that this thread is about the Most Influential album. as far as a folk movement goes, as Guest spoke of prior to the KT first album, yes there was one, but it was limited to mostly large urban areas.

When the folk movement began or was relevant does not equal what album was the most influential. It is just as usual, purists not giving credit to where credit is due for the whole genre of folk music being established. Again, The Kingston Trio won a grammy for best country/western song with Ttom Dooley, because there wasn't much if any of a folk music category, at least as far as recorded music was concerned as a whole.