I watched VH1's countdown of the most influential rock performers as voted on by "the musicians themselves" and was thoroughly disgusted--I have been, on occasion, a rock n roll musician (among other things) and found their choices--with Beatles at 1, Rolling Stones at 2, Led Zepplin at 3, to reflect a narrow taste

Anyway,it got me to thinking, who really were the most influential performers, as far as folk music is concerned?

You can be ecletic, but avoid people who worked primarily with pop music and stick to people who worked with roots music, even if it was in a peculiar or convoluted way--

I will not restrict you to any numbers--like ten or one hundred, and I will not prejudice the list by using this as a forum for my opinions(maybe later I will post something, but only if I am unable to control my compulsion to post)

It is the end of the century, and a lot of wonderful folk music has disappeared, along with the wonderful communities that created and preserved it--let's remember it here!!