"I'd just add to The Folk Entertainer's comments that being expected to know the "standards" is VERY intimidating to someone new to folk. Did any of the old regulars learn anything from the young musicians?"

Yes, we all learned that most of their singer/songwriter stuff was very self-centered, was all about trying to change the world, showed that they had no respect for what came before them, showed that they could not interact well musically with other musicians, and saddened most of the old timers, that things were not changing for the better.

Other than that, no we did not learn anything except that folk music as we knew it was a dying thing. Pretty sad, huh?