Bob,

The fellow at the university party that played & sang protest songs of people he'd never met learned to develop a plaintive air that drew chicks like magnets. Groupies, in their way. And, of course, the professionals had (& have) groupies as a matter of course.

But banjo in my experience was different back then. Most pickers tended to have Scruggs pegs and hang out in the kitchen at parties. Had about as much charisma as all those hundreds of banjo jokes would imply. None.

Still, I do recall that you just weren't that good looking a guy then so maybe it was the banjo after all! Anyway, you played a different sort of music.

No, away from the novelty situations as "protest" singers and professionals, there was a genuine Movement. A large element of that happened to be folk music and another was a personal freedom in general. A new look at sex was just part of the Movement as was a new look at politics, the arts (esp poetry & painting) & the concept of family.

After all, I shared my share in the Movement and didn't play any instrument. And admittedly wasn't particularly good-looking either.