I can tell you from my experience that playing in a pop/rock covers band DOES pay quite a lot better. In my case it's the difference between earning £200-300 a night (each) and playing in swanky hotel ballrooms with our own dressing rooms, and earning zero most of the time in folk clubs, apart from one booking so far, which paid me £50.

Given the choice between going back to the function band circuit or going to work in a factory, I'd probably come down on the side of the function band, but it would be a close call.

I started playing folk music because I discovered, only two years or so ago, that I love it. But it's a labour of love, not a career move!