PS owing to cross-post:

'breathed life into'
Never struck me that this has been Sub's contribution to the revival - he seems neither to like it or to trust it.

For the record, I think it's far more important we breath live FROM the old songs, not follow the conceit that we're breathing life INTO them, which is palpably untrue. The best Revival singers - MacColl, Bellamy, Jim Eldon - are all examples of this; they are mediums through which the life of the old songs flow. They are not giving the songs life, the songs are giving them life.

As for The Revival itself, I really think I was born too late. Do I like it? Partly. Do I trust it? Partly. Do I feel part of it? Not really. Soon as I set foot into a folk club I knew I was Post-Revival by default and I feel no differently today really. The common ground is a continuity of Popular Traditional Song & Balladry, anything else is pretty much by the by really.