  Want to know who inspired the characters of A Mighty Wind? If you were as dissappointed about the show as I was, you probably don't. Believe it or not, this article's background info is more entertaining than the whole mock-umentary. Enjoy a snippet: urlLink Guardian Unlimited Film | Features | Near as folk : "In the film: The New Main Street Singers, part close-harmony group, part new-age cult. Their clean-cut appearance belies the often sketchy pasts of its members. In real life: The New Christy Minstrels, essentially the Spinal Tap of folk. Formed by songwriter Randy Sparks in 1961 in an attempt to catch the rising folk tide, the group changed its 10-strong personnel seemingly every time it played.
Stupefyingly unprincipled, Sparks meticulously rifled folk's heritage, appropriating any melody which fell outside 50-year copyright, and any commercial opportunity that came his way. Whereas Joan Baez refused $50,000 to advertise Coca Cola, the NCM unveiled the Ford Mustang on national television and played at an inauguration party for Lyndon Johnson. Stranger than fiction: Previous members of the group have included the Byrds' Gene Clark, Kenny Rogers and a Japanese woman who performed in the traditional costume of her country. " 
