Well this ex-folkie has left to get away from the rancid, nit-picking crew with over-inflated egos who have put folk into a straight jacket and aren’t prepared to tolerate anyone enjoying it in a way that deviates from their rigid definitions, thereby squeezing all the joy out of it. Having reached the age of 70, I’ve realised life’s too short and the folk music scene just isn’t fun anymore, so I prefer to spend my valuable time engaging in more pleasurable and life-affirming activities amongst people who are welcoming, friendly, helpful and empathetic (all of which folkies used to be).

My trajectory has been a bit similar, and I now mostly play with much younger people in situations that have nothing to do with folk clubs - but with less negativity involved. I started playing folk music in informal sessions in private settings, and that's what I'm still doing a lot of the time. It was a long time before I found a folk club and didn't really see what it might have to do with me; I was interested in playing the stuff, not in listening to somebody performing things that were only vaguely related.

The folk club scene round me is not exclusive in the way you describe, or the way Jim Carroll wants it be, it's just rather old. There is a handover to a younger generation in progress, and what they're doing is fine by me, I just don't feel fired up to go along to a club no matter what. They tend do have events on nights when I have other stuff to do.

I do occasionally run into exclusive nastiness in the session scene (as well as plain ordinary boredom from ageing players who won't try anything new to them). There's always at least one anti-English bigot at every Irish session, so I don't bother with them any more. They need to learn to deal with that. The absolute pits is a local egomaniac who gets annual refills of snobbery and smugness at the Willie Clancy school - no way in hell would I ever want to go near it.