Taylor was one of a group of untalented performers, which included Cat Stevens, and Melanie Safka, who came along either at, or in the wake of, Woodstock, appearing in late 1969, or 1970, who portrayed themselves as 60’s folk singers. 1970 high school graduates bought it, because they fancied themselves as 1960’s people, even though the 1960’s were over.
I remember, after I quit college in 1970, I was driving a catering truck when “Fire and Rain” first was broadcast. I hated it from the first note, and I had been a fan of 1960’s folk and folkrock music.
Nostalgia seems to cloud judgement about how bad some performers and performances really were, but I haven’t fallen prey to that nostalgia. I am neither nostalgic for the 1960’s, or the 1970’s parody of the 1960’s.
My opinion of Taylor was, to my surprise, shared by a local DJ friend of mine, who I thought was always chasing trendy stuff. He said that, with the introduction of Taylor, folk music was dead. He said that in 1970 or 1971.
Taylor, it seems, is still portraying himself as a long-suffering folk singer in the Woody Guthrie tradition, and far too many mid-term baby boomers still buy it.
“the 1970’s parody of the 1960’s.”
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