I certainly did. I think Sandy Denny, not only because of her amazingly ethereal voice and her fantastic songwriting skills, was a tremendously seminal influence in bringing Celtic or Celtic-influenced music more into the mainstream. Of course, Richard Thompson and Fairport Convention, were instrumental in that, but it began with Sandy's influence.
I think, in the broadest sense, folk is alive, well, growing and developing. I am not talking about folk in the sense of the narrow Anglo-Saxon definition. We live in a tiny world, with information at our fingertips, so music and we are much better for it. Fifteen years ago, I would not have known about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Liza Carty, Ali Farka Toure, or Tinariwen (compare his guitar work to the old blues artists for a totally mind-boggling experience)unless perchance I had inadvertantly bumped into an album at a shop. Then in America, we have wonderful singers like Iris Dement, groups like Nicklecreek, just to name two, that carry on the Anglo tradition. The blues are going strong. Bluegrass and Cajun are doing fine. There are people doing great stuff in crossover styles, like Mark Knopfler and Robert Plant, who are making us look at much of our own music in a new way. This is all going on in spite of the banal pop music culture that the record industry and radio promotes so heavily.
I heard something that was wonderful, and I took it for granted because this kind of thing is happening all the time, which is an indication that the condition of folk is alot healthier than we think. If you would have ever told me that I would enjoy listening to Ukrainian mandolin, I would have chuckled a bit, but Garrison Keillor introduced Peter Ostroushko to us through Prarie Home Companion and I was enchanted. It was fabulous and I would also call it folk.
Now if someone is looking for a popular resurgence of Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, and Peter, Paul & Mary 6O's nites, it ain't gonna happen. That person might think the condition of folk in the US is deplorable.