It's not that Ralph Rinzler (who I knew slightly) was trying to put anything over on the public, but he understood that for Doc to be able to make a living playing he needed that so-called stamp of authenticity before he could show the world what he was capable of. The scene at the time was overloaded with hacks who claimed to be playing folk music, Doc showed them what it was really all about.

Let us also not forget that it was Rinzler who pushed Bill Monroe on to the stages up North. He knew that Bill felt slighted by the country music establishment who were paying more attention to Flatt & Scruggs.   And, Ralph Rinzler was the moving force behind the Smithsonian Institutions' Festival of American Folklife.

Mark Ross