You're right, Barry -- a lot of them do suck. However, a lot of singer/songwriters from days gone by also sucked. I don't really think the ratio of good to bad is really any different now than it ever was. However, there are two dynamics working in favor of the older folks: (1) their best work is primarily what we hear, and (2) nostalgia. I'm old enough to have grown up on the music of the sixties, so I have a soft spot for some of the older stuff myself, but I recognize that a lot of that is pure nostalgia -- not an objective evaluation of the quality of these songs. And in my experience old folkies are among the most nostalgic of people, endlessly reliving the struggles of their youth (no matter how peripheral their involvement may have been), and bemoaning the fact that "Things Have Changed".