Well, if the songwriters were the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Woody Guthrie, I'd have been plenty interested in seeking them out in my youth. I never encountered any of the "greats" but I did end up sitting across a table from Steve Goodman, a great songwriter who, thank god, didn't limit himself to singing "old songs" to appease Brit and Brit loving "folk music" purists.

If all folks sang was "old songs" we'd run out of music pretty damn quick, methinks.

I just don't get this disparagement of songwriters by you Britfolkers. But then, I've never been the jealous, green-eyed monster type. I think bad Brit songwriters end up singing "folk songs" because they don't have to be embarrassed by their own ineptitude when it comes to songwriting. They can pick and choose the best stuff to make themselves look like better musicians than they really are.