"and quite a bit of harm at the same time ."
Wonder what 'harm' MacColl did to folk music.
He, Lloyd and those around them put it on the map for me and thousands like me.
Bronson described the Riverside series of ballads as a "the most important event in the field since the publication of Sharp and Karpeles Southern Appalachian collection".
Their singing turned me on to a lifetime's love of the Scots and English ballads and songs - they were the best around at the time, and to my mind, their singing is still head-and-shoulders above anything today.
MacColl's accent gave me access to the Scots material when I was still struggling with Jeannie Roberton's, Jimmy McBeath's and Davie Stewart's.
I hope nobody ever digs up anything I was singing a liftime ago - we moved on, or some of us did.
Jim Carroll