I just heard a very interesting "Hidden Brain" podcast about one of the writers of this song. It turns out that he was many things, including a bit of a scam artist, promoting his "Folk Music Encyclopedia", for which he solicited huge sums of money from countless backers which he scammed.
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/21/679233260/the-cowboy-philosopher-a-tale-of-obsession-scams-and-family