Hi Art,

John Cohen talked about the privilege of playing these old songs. He said it wasn't enough that he remembered the songs. He also remembered the events where he learned them and the people he learned them from. And as he did these songs places and people came back to him as fresh as the day he first played them. He felt it was a way to keep people alive
as long as the songs were sung. As each person learns the song the connection remains.

I never thought of these songs in that way. I can see how and why John feels the way he does. I can't do Sam Hall with out remembering my friend Don Austin and the grand baritone I first heard him sing the song with.

Don