I haven't visited this site since I joined this group, and yours are the
first posting I've got from it.

I don't think this group's "criteria" much more than one person's personal
favorites, put into a list form. Which is OK to get the discussions started.

The page says, "I have not included the more commercial, clean-cut groups"
and then lists Peter Paul and Mary, Chad Mitchell Trio and The Journeymen as
eseential or honorable mention. It states they have "not emphasized those
who got their start in a previous folk music revival", yet lists The
Tarriers, who certainly had records out in the states long before Jack
Elliot, who was left off because he was too early...he also refers to
"national prominence" and lists some performers that have never had any real
national prominence...

I joined thinking there may be lively discussions along those lines but
haven't heard anything from it until your posts.

So to answer the question, the compilations were put together by people with
different opinions than the moderator of this Yahoo group.

Some compilations are put together by people who throw together whatever
songs they can get reproduction rights to as cheap as possible on some vague
"theme". Others are put out by record companies, so natchurally only have
their artists on them.

Since I bought recordingss by almost all of the performers from that list
when they came out I really haven't looked very carefully at what
compilations are out there. All that being said, it seems crazy that Buffy
St. Marie, Phil Ochs, Odetta, Richie Havens, and Peter, Paul, and Mary would
all be left off of a compilation in favor of Sonny and Cher and Trini Lopez,
unless the purpose of the collection was to demonstrate how pervasive the
folk scare penetrated into more mainstream music, and not to showcase the
actual folkie performers.

There may be some Amazon "favorites" lists that people have put together of
their favorites from that era.


on 3/2/09 8:31 PM, joceb2005@... at joceb2005@... wrote:

> In the course of trying to help my daughter with her project, I've
> printed out the selections available on so-called "Greatest Folk
> Songs" collections. Most of the artists listed on the Folk Scare home
> page are absent from the collections.
>
> The most glaring omissions include Buffy St. Marie, Phil Ochs, Odetta,
> Richie Havens, and Peter, Paul, and Mary. A lot of the artists who
> are included I would not consider folk artists, although their
> material comes from the folk tradition.
>
> So I'm wondering: are the omissions the result of not getting
> permission to use the material OR are the omissions the result of
> wanting to market more main-stream selections?
>
> (My research strategy consisted of going to Amazon and looking at what
> was included on a couple of compilations).
>
> (And why aren't more people posting?!)
>
> ------------------------------------