I am such a fan of Peggy's and when she says something I listen (Smith Barney style).
Peggy and Alan Lomax love folk music so much that when something comes down the pike that seems out of kilter, they comment. Although Alan is gone, now, I remember his rants and also the reason for them. He cared! So does Peggy.

It's best to listen to why she reacts because she is one of the most knowledgeable people in folk music around today. She has heard folk music practically in the womb and so she, Pete and Mike have knowledge that you can take to the bank (except folk music doesn't make much money so it'll be a slim account).

Ewan and Peggy made a point out of maintaining a fidelity to the culture from which the singer emanates. This degree of consistency and integrity is a hall-mark of a folklorist
or musicologist who has studied, compared, sifted, collected, and found those who folklorists call "informants" that represent a specific tradition in music.

If, for example, Bo Diddley sang a Mozart aria, y'all might be on the floor too.

I've made it a point to come as close as I can to understanding the songs, styles and techniques of folk music (and I've done some laughable things too) but this reaction by Peggy can be constructive if you see it in the light of learning something about folk traditions. The Cockney guy who sang a style with which he was unfamiliar showed a kind of insensitivity to the song. I'm all for people doing anything they want with music but if they lack an education about it, then they have to take their lumps. I certainly have taken mine plenty of times. When I sang "Tying A Knot in the Devil's Tail" by the great late cowboy poet Gail Gardner, I got the liner notes all wrong which prompted him to say to me, "That guy doesn't know which end of a horse is up", and he was right. Since then, I've had a few horseback riding lessons and an important lesson about having applied and educated integrity to the song you sing.

Frank