ABSTRACT
Josh would be remembered fondly by his family, friends, and fans, but for twenty-five years after his death he was all but forgotten in the larger world. By 1969 his style was already considered rather archaic; the folk music boom was just about over, and those singers who wanted to remain commercial were playing contemporary material and using bands. His death was noted with obituaries in the major newspapers and some tender remembrances by old friends. Don McLean penned a long-overdue appreciation in Sing Out! and Jac Holzman went back into the Elektra vaults to compile a two-record album, The Best of Josh White, issued in 1971. By that time, though, it was a rara avis in the catalogue, appearing between the Doors’ Morrison Hotel and Judy Collins’s Whales and Nightingales.
