First, thank you for the kind comments made above.

I don't like lists because they are exclusive by their nature, and I believe the magic that is Mudcat was and is its inclusiveness.

But I will say that Rick is the genuine article. Sandy Paton is the genuine article. And, of course, Jean Ritchie (kytrad) is the absolute genuine article.

One that I would immediately include would be Frank McGrath. Many of you won't recognize the name, but he gave us one on the greatest gifts when he brought THIS wonderful recounting of how Robbie McMahon came on the lyrics of Spancil Hill. The story was so compelling that Frank ended up doing an interview with Irish Music Magazine, as a result (I suspect) of another Mudcatter known here as Liam's Brother, but to many of us as Dan Milner.

Dan Milner (Liam's Brother) is absolutely a Mudcat icon for what he has contributed over the years. He is an ethnomusicologist of the first order, one of the great singers, married to one of the finest women I have met (and a Johnson Girl no less), and a wonderful and giving musician.

All the best,

Mick