Hi Steve,

I saw all four of them live, tho' I have to admit I was never too keen on Pete as a musician. He was a performer more than a musician, in my opinion.

Of the other three, Joan was far and away the best guitarist. She was not flashy, just solid, on-the-money pattern picking and flatpicking. The other two might have been as good on their own, but they had backup musicians with them when I saw them. I saw Judy (I assume we're talking Collins here) in Oklahoma City and she had a backup guitarist with her. I don't remember who he was, but he was good. She was better on piano than on guitar. And Odetta's guitar work was fairly simple strumming when I saw her in Tokyo in about 1965. But then, she didn't need to be much of a guitarist with that voice, Bruce Langhorn on guitar and Les Grenage on bass. That was where I got to meet all three of them. Just about dropped my teeth when Bruce shook hands with me. It was the first inkling I had that he was missing the index and middle fingers on his picking hand.

cheers,

david