Sandy: I don't believe Silber's agenda could ever be considered a secret one. Just a very strong one. We know John Lomax was a self-agrandizing, using, son of a bitch and was "hesitant" to give credit to others. It seems Lunsford was a racist, Leadbelly an Uncle Tom, Burl Ives variable and I don't like anybody very much. But that did not seem to affect the reporting of songs as far as I know (except for minimizing baudy material & that's a different cause). It's also different from "secret agenda." Is there something I'm missing?

Art: If you like, I'd be interested in specifics (or examples). We had a tendency to think of all folkies as left wing & humane-like because we grew up with that sort in the Revival. But we know that those source singers who taught the Revivalists banjo & mountain music were often insular & ultra-conservative. You mention deceipt, though and that is serious.