of the early '60s folk scene.

It's interesting that today it seems to us to be so... dry. The pop-folk is certainly Disneyfied, cute-but-wholesome, sweaters around shoulders and long full skirts.

But again putting oneself in context of the times...

I still don't know if there's much 'sexy' in the way of the music. There's certainly some sexiness in the 'exotic', voyeuristic aspect of it; Josh White in particular was noted for his sexual energy on stage and you can hear it in his later 'folk singer' period (as opposed to his early 'blues man' recordings, though they are also sexy). You know the Newport crowd went apeshit for Howlin' Wolf, so it's not like there was something wrong with sexy.

But there's also something to the comportment of the women... more than just Judy Collins having delicious eyes (http://www.nicomokveld.com/webwijzer%202006/muziek/covers/images/Judycol3.jpg). Just like you may have overlooke the edge of leftist politics and the aftermath of the Red Scare, it's easy to overlook the women's liberation movement and the affect it had on young women. The changes in what was considered acceptable behavior for women during the period we're talking about changed dramatically and a lot of it came about in the roots of the eventual counter-culture.

A lot was mode of it when Joan Baez came on, unannounced, BAREFOOT. That seems like such an inane thing to us today but in 1959 for an 18 year old girl to be that free-spirited was... revolutionary. And while Joan's singing does leave me cold, her personality that comes across off-record as a young woman is very magnetic, way sexier than her physical appearance would indicate.

And Mimi Farina >>>> Joanie.

You can't forget Mary Travers (as long as you don't Google images of her from the '00s). Another one who was not a classic beauty, her presence on stage was elegant but incredibly confident and, yes, sexy because of it - and I feel moreso that no matter how corny the repertoire, Mary's sexual confidence came across in her records as well (certainly better than Joan's). I think this clip from FESTIVAL really captures it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUKB3PxG-0E

It's definitely sexy in a Bohemian way, but it's sexy.