Jessica,

I second the thought!

When I first became involved in folk music as a child I did not differentiate between the topical-political ("protest") music and the traditional. They were all in the same mix. And the people whom I listened to back then -- Pete Seeger, Oscar Brand, Theodore Bikel, Harry Belafonte, Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly, the Weavers -- didn't differntiate between them very much, either. Later, I continued to listen to many singers whose repertoires were an eclectic mix of the topical-political, the traditional, and the what-not. These included Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl, Joan Baez, Odetta, Bonnie Dobson, and quite a few others. Only much later did I notice the divergence bewteen what I had long considered the two sides of the one big beautiful gold coin I knew as folk music.

I am happy to see folks like Larry Otway are busy rejoining the two strands. More power to them!

--- Steve