The important lesson for me is that the folk music endures despite it's commercialization by those who wanted to cash in on the fad. It endures the music business.
There is a kind of minor music business that takes place when personalities are able
to find audiences in coffee houses or concert venues playing folk songs. Folk music
endures of this realm as well though in all fairness,there are those who are motivated to perform folk music because they see its value of itself and not just as a vehicle for reaching an audience.

If Pete Seeger or Joan Baez reach an audience and stay in touch with the actual folk music,
then this is a great thing because it raises the consciousness of the audience. They don't have to be authentic representatives of a traditional folk music to do this. In a sense, they are unwitting or maybe conscious educators. Folk music appreciation is not relegated to a
"butts in seats" approach to concertizing for commercial gain but as kind of a mission based on true appreciation for the idiom. In this way, it parallels the jazz artist.

The only detractors from this view as I see it are those wanting to cash in on a "cash cow".
That's how I see the Debbie Reynold's Legendaires.

Frank Hamilton