Interesting thread here. I sometimes wonder where the popular perception of folk music and folk musicians comes from. True, some of the young participants of the 1960's folk revival came off as self-righteous, even (and I personally find this worse) precious. But balanced out against the raw, transcendent power of other well-known, influential performers... I don't get it.

If Mr. Marcus listens to Dock Boggs, Roscoe Holcomb, Howlin' Wolf or Leadbelly, who were all part and parcel of the folk tradition or more contemporary folks like Martin Carthy, Mike Seeger, Richard Thompson, or Robert Jr. Lockwood, I don't know how he can find objections to what he hears.