Why all the anomosity? This thread was asking a legitimate thread about folk music and to many people it is their only contact to folk music. I know many of you elitists here don't consider it folk music but that seems to be a debate that will never end. I won't go back through how many of you actually came to the folk music via groups like Kingston Trio, Limeliters, Brothers Four and Peter, Paul and Mary. Sure it is commercial but if you were to survey America about what comes to mind when you say folk music, I bet these names would come up in a much larger percentage than some of the more "purist" ones.

To me, music is music. You either like it or you don't. If you don't like it one option is to keep quiet about it. Another option is to politely disagree. The third, which seems to be what gets taken here in mudcat a lot is to yell from the treetops "THIS CRAP IS NOT FOLK MUSIC"   Which seems about as socially acceptable as someone at a cocktail party standing up on a chair and saying"HEY EVERYONE THIS   SALSA IS NOT AUTHENTIC! IT HAS EXTRA INGREDIENTS THAT ARE NOT IN REAL SALSA!" At the same time most people are enjoying the salsa, or not but keepng their mouth shut about it.

I just went to the Getaway in MAryland. I had a ball there. Ded some of the music suit my personal tastes?   No. There were slots of genres that I loved, some that I enjoyed for the historical perspective, some I clearly didn't quite get. But I had the sense to keep it to myself. For an evening performance I joined a couple of other Mudcatters, Allan C and Janie to perform an old Kingston Trio number. WHen it was announced I heard the naysayers moaning in the audience. Then I heard 200 people join in on the choruses. I know I am rambling here but, damn, why don't we all open our eyes a bit? We may be surprised at what happens with an open mind.