I'd also like to challenge, while we're at it, this idea that there's a "closed shop" around folk, and especially around traditional music.

I first started getting into folk, as I say, when I was 19/20. That was in California. Most of the folkies I knew at the time were Irish, and were very supportive when I tentatively started singing. Inevitably I started with some very accessible, pubby stuff, but people used to say, "Your voice would sound really nice singing this..." and give me cassettes with songs on that were more traditional. Was I insulted? Did I get the hump? Certainly not - I was grateful that people were sharing their superior knowledge with me. And I learned some great songs. My friend and I used to sing almost the whole of Silly Sisters - me doing the June Tabor harmonies and her doing Maddy! That was my first experience of English music.

Fast forward to the early 90s, when I had settled in England. My first real forays into the folk scene here were in Lichfield, via the Arts Centre and Arts Association. Again, I never encountered any snobbishness about the fact that I was American or that a lot of the music I sang was Irish - people were welcoming and inclusive and I have a lot to be grateful for in that respect. And again, I was consistently introduced to wonderful new music by lovely people who were not trying to "impose" their tastes on me, but instead sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm. I learned a lot. I also wanted to give something back and be more actively involved in supporting the music and the culture, so I started volunteering at events and started a session at a local pub. My involvement grew and deepened over time.

Fast forward to 2007, and I find myself writing in English Dance and Song magazine, running a festival and a folk development project for young people, and invited to join EFDSS's education advisory panel (among other folk-related bits and pieces). Nobody could be more surprised by all of this than me, to be honest. And nowadays, I'm often lumped in with the Folk Police by Lizzie. Given my background, I find this hilarious.

I think the Folk Police are a myth. What I DO think is that when you go into any community with which you are not familiar, there are certain rules of engagement. Firstly, you do a lot more listening than talking for an awfully long time. You accept that you can learn a lot from the people around you, and you ingest that knowledge - in my case, hungrily. I still learn so much from the people I'm lucky enough to have around me.

Secondly, you don't start trying to make the rules within a community or group that was established long before you arrived, nor should you obsessively impose your tastes on them. All of these behaviours are simply antisocial - and regardless of the hobby or enthusiasm in question, the person exhibiting such behaviours would probably be met with rather a cold shoulder.

Now, the easy response to this is to say that folk is a closed shop, and that there are "folk police" patrolling the gates. Well, the point of me sharing my potted history in folk is to say that, if that were really the case, there's no bloody way I'd ever have got in. I'm sure there are many others here who could say the same - we've all found our way here one way or another, and there's no one barring the door.