Why aren't The Corries taken seriously?

Hmm...I did and still do. As for others, I have several theories:

1) The Personal Theory. Years ago many of us had our first exposure to Irish and Scottish acoustic folk from the likes of performers such as the Clancy Brothers, The Dubliners and The Corries. And, you know, wihout them as a link to those songs many of those old songs would have been lost. They provided an essential link. Enter the "folk nazis" who question the purity of the tradition. "This is not AUTHENTIC!", they claim. They are partly responsible;

2) The Corries also come from a nationalist Scottish tradition that harkens back to the sixties. In their attempt to resurrect national feeling the emphasis was on an almost uncritical nationalism. Thus the ringing songs about the Bonnie Prince Charlie, King James, etc. Later folksingers such as Gaughan, Hamish Henderson took a more critical nationslist-Left approach emphasising social class, the working class and were critical of the higher ups (case in point, such songs as Henderson's "No Gods and Precious Few Heroes" and "Freedom Come All Ye". So, the Corries represent a certain time period of rising nationalism.

I perform many of the songs saved/performed/developed by The Corries. Then I folow them with one of Henderson's songs to try and put Scottish history into perspective.

Len Wallace