I'm currently reading Joe Boyd's book "White bicycles - making music in the 1960s" and came across the following anecdote.

Commenting on how people found his (Joe Boyd's) love of traditional music eccentric and that they would greet offerings of CDs of Fairport - Norma Waterson - Richard Thompson with little smiles and nods while getting effusive thanks for Ry Cooder etc ones, he told the story of Tak Mahal coming to Radio 2 Folk on Two award in 2000.

I quote:

"The folk-averse love Taj as a paragon of blues authenticity, but that night he was hitting my arm and making faces of astonished delight as the Copper Family sang their unaccompanied harmonies. Taj recognised soulful music when he heard it. For the grand finale, when the Coppers were joined by the Watersons, John Tams, Eliza Carthy and Kate Rusby and the rest of the English folk establishment, you couldn't keep Taj in his seat. He quickly learned the chorus and his gruff baritone boomed out amid the English voices on 'Thousands Or More'... his grin testified to the pleasure that evening's music gave him. Perhaps it's easier for foreigners"