I mainly play music in a pub in the middle of a small village community. Generally, people enjoy us doing it, and some of them join in fairly regularly. Occasionally, someone will buy us all a pint if he's feeling generous, otherwise we buy our own.

We're just seen as part of the general village scene like the footballers or the bellringers.

If I were to start again with organising our session, I'd probably not describe it as "folk" but that's pretty much all. What we do is music in a pub and it defies that kind of description. Some's traditional, some's fairly modern.

Two months ago I sang The Unquiet Grave in a fairly full bar. I was surprised to find, halfway through the second verse, that the whole pub had gone silent and it stayed that way till I had finished. I can't explain it, really, because my singing's not all that good but it seems to me that the people in the pub related to the song, and we relate to them.

Don't think that's insular.

:-)