As Studs Terkel said introducing him at Newport in 1959, "Here is a monumental figure in the world of folk music!"
I just put Ewan and A.L. Lloyd's grand riverside LP onto a CD----the one called Champions And Sporting Blades. All sporting events and matches chronicled in great songs and ballads.
Someone started a thread recently called something like, "Did Ewan MacColl ever do any songs that weren't serious"---in the tragic sense, I guess. Well, this LP proved that he did on just about every cut.
A great artist with a treasure trove who learned from so many source singers!!! ;-)