‘One person's cliche is another person's discovery.’ Cool Beans, I agree entirely with your sentiments. And here’s another thing. Half a century ago, an older and wiser colleague said to me: “Wherever you want to take your students, you have to start from where they are.” That piece of advice has since proved very helpful - in classrooms, and in folk clubs. My experience has been that for every listener who wants to hear something new and challenging, there are usually half a dozen who would prefer something familiar and reassuring. If you want to persuade an audience to like - or even tolerate - the unfamiliar, then it helps to introduce them to it gradually. And if capturing the crowd’s attention with a song that they know and like provokes sneers from the sophisticated, then let them sneer. Wassail!
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