ABSTRACT
The 1950s and 1960s ushered in new eras in the history of British popular music. The folk revival of the 1960s partly achieved its goals via the accumulation of detail, but by the 1970s it was also responsible for unyielding echelons – particularly within the ubiquitous folk club. Folk club performance as an expression of community remains restricted to that community being elevated enough to appreciate the second revival's constructions of folk song. Arthur, Pegg, and Gaughan referred to a significant characteristic of the 1970s folk revival – that of the esoteric introverted connoisseur. This chapter turns to this connoisseur, his/her social echelon and habitat. The word connoisseur is not common parlance within the folk revival; however, those with a depth of knowledge about canons certainly created hierarchies that still remain to this day.
