Growing up in Chicago in the '50's, I fell into folk music. An early discovery, of course, was the Midnight Special, which played a lot of the Will Holt lp. By the time I got a driver's license, my favorite became Bob Gibson, and the "new" Gate of Horn had an underage section that somehow legally separated the under's from the over's. In any event, ever since, I have talked about the distinction then in Chicago between the cabaret and old timey styles of folk music, both of which bloomed in Chicago at that time. The top of the line of old timey was the fantastic performers that Mike Seeger and others brought to the University of Chicago Folk Festival. I think the cabaret style morphed into the singer-songwriter school, but I also think the cabaret style, even with Lemon Tree, is a true part of the folk music tradition, which is carried on still in Chicago by folks such as Michael Smith and Jamie O'Reily.
Chris in Portland