If you read carefully you would have seen that this thread was a response to, and an attempt to not continue to feed, a previous thread titled: 'Is Joan Baez a Fraud?'. I thought Joe Heaney's comments had more interest than just another opinion re:
'I like/dislike her singing.'
'She's a Goddess/Whore of Babylon.'

My own opinion was stated above, that no matter how good her cause or how positive her effects, she was a bit too commercial and studied to be considered a 'folk-singer'. Not to dredge up that argument, but the obvious definition is one brought up in the tradition of singing folksongs in thier community.

what I said on my own opinion was:

'sums up my feelings for Joan's singing, she was never the real thing, folkwise, a little too commercial, too much vibrato and technique, though enjoyable nonetheless,

BUT I have nothing but respect for her as a person, her views, her stands, her courage, her influence on thousands of listeners who might have never heard of Child's Ballads except for her. And I love her versions of some songs, though I hate the FAKE, twangy, 'love is just a four letter word' thing. Worst use of steel guitar in a recording, maybe. '