Stephen Foster will still be sung long after Guthrie is totally forgotten.
Funny you mention that. This is one of my favorite CDs. Highly recommended...
Years ago in primary school, we had to sing a lot of what I later found out where Stephen Foster songs. But you don't hear his work much lately. "Tis summer, the darkies are gay" and "Still longing for de old plantation" don't quite go over well nowadays.
Woody Guthrie, a songwriter? I don't think he actually created those melodies. They were traditional or by long forgotten composers with maybe a few minor changes. His lyrics weren't always very memorable either. We've had great songwriters -- plenty of them -- but some people are stuck on the folk thing and don't care about talented songwriters who don't fit in with it.