Am flattered that I am now considered to be the 'right' Jim- told you I was right (addressed politely to the 'wrong Jim') Seriously though, I can't take lectures from you Brian about context- I knew personally many of the folk you mentioned- none of them made any distinction as to the category a song fitted into- except when guided by some song collector with his own agenda. And while Tam Lin & Lord Bateman are wonderful tales & of great value, it takes a real talent to communicate orally such material in 2015. It seems to be a lost art- or maybe I'm spoilt by years of listening to the Stewarts and their ilk. They knew their contexts, and chose their songs accordingly. Surely we all do? At an after- folk club late-night session, surely no- one would launch into a set of 'dreich' ballads?- or maybe some would? It's obvious that we all have different tastes and can certainly reject a song purely on that basis, but I still can't see why all this pigeon-holing is so important to people! I note there is a parallel discussion on whether a 'folk' song can become a 'trad' song- equally pointless... A reviewer once said of a CD of mine- 'Jim only sings the songs he likes' I think I know what he meant & maybe you can work it out, but there isn't really any alternative to that, is there? signed the right Jim
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