Well O.K. now, calm down. I didn't mean to demean him, especially since I really loved his albums of Sailors songs, and now that you hit me with both barrels I recognize that Ewan McColl was indeed a name here in folk circles and had a bunch of albums out. That was long ago and maybe my memory isn't as good as I thought. I guess what I meant was, not widely known among the wider public rather than among lovers of folk music, which one could have said about many really authentic folksingers anyway. Besides which, some people above were mentioning the New Lost City Ramblers in this context, and they were anything but little known or insignificant and I didn't get all unhinged. Anyway, I was thinking of the great seashanty sides, which one must admit, are an even more esoteric taste. I googled them and am glad to see that those albums are still in the catalog and on CD. BTW you may not know, or maybe you do, that John Houston used some of the seashanties from McColl and Lloyd's album "Blow Boys Blow" for the soundtrack of Moby Dick. Gave it an authenticity that Gregory Peck's wooden acting couldn't match.

Back to not-widely-known musicians, I forgot to mention that great songwriter Van Rozay from Canyon CA