Unfortunately Chris I don't share your views on his merits, I found him boring in the extreme, 27 verse songs of no particular merit do not entertain me, his Bodhran playing was an insult to the assembled company (you know yourself how important rythym is to a percussion instrument being a fine drummer yourself)and I couldn't even escape his volume by going to the bog (I tried it twice and could hear every word)
My rant is not just aimed at this individual, I've experienced the same thing numerous times and although I acknowledge and accept there are varying degrees of ability in any one company I do not consider we should have to tolerate such c**p just because it is in a folk club, in any other genre of music they would be laughed out of court.
As for his expertise with other instruments and his intelligence I will defer to your greater knowledge as you obviously have greater experience than I, however I will have to consider whether I attend the session again on a Saturday night