"At what date do you put "the startup of the revival" and when do you believe the music industry latched on?"
I believe the earliest performances of folk were those arranged by Lomax at The Theatre Royal in Stratford East when he was on the run from McCarthy
The folk boom I'm not too sure about, but I know I had Kingston Trio and Clancy Brothers albums in the early sixties
The problem with the boom was they rather dominated the airwaves with erzatz folk (all the best stuff was on The Third Programme, which nobody listened to)
The other problem was newbies recognised the erzatz stuff as real folk and developed a taste for that rather than the Harry Cox's and Sam Larners
I can still remember the culture shock when somebody gave me a copy of MacColl's Folkways Vol 1 album of The Child Ballads = nearly ended us as a plant-pot stand
Luckily I had mates in Manchester where I could listen to Terry Whelan, Dave Hillary, terry Griffiths, Tom Gillfellon and Harry Boardman - that wasn't on offer to me in Liverpool then
There is a wealth of material for future generations to enjot - as long as somebody remembers where the key is
That's our job and there's no time like the present
I only hope I'm going to be around long enough to enjoy their enjoying it
It's giving me a greatt buzz here in Ireland - still coming down from last Sundays singing club in Dublin run by youngsters - magic!
Jim