Martin under-rated in the UK? Only as part of the general neglect of the music we know and love . .
It's not the album of the year - it's at least the album of the century. Seriously, it's one of the all-time great recordings of (mainly?) English traditional music. It treats the material with enormous respect but brings tremendous originality, energy and enthusiasm to it.
Of course this will be no surprise to anyone who's heard Martin perform "Betsy the Serving Maid" - either live or on his "Live" CD . .
And, of course, he was working on this CD for more than 2 years.
As for Jools Holland's token support for Folk music - forget it . . he marginalises such performers (and/or insists on "participating" with them); I know of a number of such guests who have found the whole thing a somewhat disagreeable experience. Really, the guy's more into his own ego than the music.
No connection with Martin other than having been bowled over by his performances 20+ years . . and having seen him often enough to count him as a friend, also. (OK, that's hardly "no connection" . . .)
G.