Hey, Ellenpoly:

If we dismiss songwriters because they haven't lived enough we never would have had Bob Dylan's endless wealth of music. Same with Buddy Holly and countless other people who are recognized as great. In most music, it seems like the most creative years are for people in their twenties and thirties. Even in traditional folk music, it's easy to forget that some of the great music and recordings we love were made by very young musicians. I don't know how old Clarence Ashley was when he recorded The Cuckoo, or Mississippi John Hurt when he did his first recordings, but they were young men. And, they must have been performing long before they were first recorded.

Jerry