I know this is an old thread but I am curouis about what seems to be Rick and Don suggesting that the Dubliners had little musical tallent. I will agree that a lot of their music is rough and ready but IMO Barney McKenna is a fine tenor banjo player and John Sheehan is an equally good fiddler. I think that John Sheehan has also written some nice tunes. The Marino Waltz and Christchurch are 2 that I think are his.

Re the respect bit, I respect them all. In my case, it was the Clanceys and the Dubiners that got me interested in folk music. Thinking of another current thread, it could have been Dylan for somebody else. I doubt that any of us are going to like every perfomer but I think we should all apprecaite that they all got people interested in folk music and should at leat be respected for that.

Jon