Mbo, I don't know if others my age (almost 48) experienced this, but I grew up listening to the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem records, then the Chieftains appeared on the American scene with the soundtrack to Barry Lindon, then I found the Mary O'Hara recording released in the US... and until the explosion of popularity of Enya, Altan, Clannad, I had not even heard of the Bothy band. I find that people at our session who are in their late twenties and early thirties discovered the Bothy band and Silly Wizard while I was out of the 'music loop' for awhile, being a mom and working to exhaustion. I listened to the Thistle and Shamrock on National Public Radio, but only once in awhile during that time. If I had had more free time, there would have been an entire span of contemporary Irish music that I would not have missed the first time around. (sorry that didn't answer your question, but I am sure someone here will)