I don't know if I'm showing my age or my title, but I would rather not see a remake of the popular folk gruops of the '60s. Oddly enough, Bassman, who started this thread explains it thus, "We are doing a great arrangement of Roddy McCorley, however! "

Now there's nothing wrong with an arrangement, but that's about all these aforementioned groups wre about. Take a good old song (read no royalties to pay) slicken it up, and shove it up the ears of the unknowing public. And make a lot of money.

I was fortunate enough to know a little bit about folk music prior to the Great Scare. My grandfather knew a couple of songs, I found more in old song books while learning piano, I got a couple of recordings of Ewan macColl and A.L. Lloyd while in high school, and a teacher introduced me to an early recording by Frank Warner.

I admit, I did listen to the Kingston Trio, the Highwaymen, et al., but if I heard a song I liked, my first impulse was to find out the sources of the song, the history, and the correct text. For the big companies to copyright a PD song, changes had to be made.

If you want a good example of how this worked, find a copy of the Tradition LP, "Come Fill Your Glass With Us," Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers. Now after enjoying these straightforward renditions of trad songs, listen to what happened after Mitch Miller and his gang got hold of them.

I do have friends and acquaintances who still perform in this '60s manner:more power to them. But I personally feel a closer rapport with the countryman who commented to Vaughan Williams at a professional presentation of folk songs,"I suppose it's nice for him to have the pianoforte, but it does make it awkward for the listener."