I'll add my 2 cents.

I've skimmed all of the posts and didn't see any mention of the fact that in the 60's -- at least in America -- folk music had a life beyond itself. I remember -- I was there. The 60's brought together wave upon wave of social movements in a way that was unprecedented in the U.S. -- the civil rights movement, anti-war movement, student movement, women's movement, gay rights, and the list goes on. And folk music, with content that promotes the values of community and communal experience, along with the elevation of the working person, the rebel, the iconoclast, rather than competitive, coporate experience; and the musical form of the hootenany/sing-along promoting the group experience; resulted in an energy that perfectly fueled and was fueled by the social movements of the time (i.e., "in unity there is strength"). And when you add to that a Bob Dylan or Joni MitchelL that take the basic form to a whole other level (not to mention an infant music business that was not yet overly corporatized and supported pushing the artistic envelope with no guarantee of immediate profit), you had a truly wonderful, experimental, magical time that had resonance mostly within its own boundaries.

I guess the point I am making is that the resonance, the impact, the creative fulfillment both in the composing, playing and listening, is not transferable to our day. Not really. As I said, the music had a life beyond itself. Out of that context it is not the same. Some of it is pretty, other parts overwritten, other parts sophomoric, and some wonderful, but the statement, the emotional resonance, existed only within that special time and space.