Fred,
I agree with you when you said,"There is not enough of the folk stuff that my dad and his friends used to play--not any, or maybe I've mythologized it to a point where nothing sounds quite like I remember it."

It's not like it was. There is a tendency toward a kind of pseudo-professionalism in the coffee-houses and not folks getting together and singing/playing as much. This seems to be changing around the country but not so much in my neck of the woods. That's the only reason I got back into teaching again.

I would like to see a return to those parties and gatherings that I used to go to.
(sans tobacco smoke,for me though).

Frank Hamilton