I can't be arsed with the debate over what is and isn't folk music - I just like what I like and it just so happens that that is usually something traditional but not necessarily performed in what may be described as a 'traditional' style, or something that wouldn't be described in as traditional music but performed with simplicity. I think! (Although I also enjoy simple music with complex voice arrangements, for instance).

Anyway, having confused myself about that, and reading Mr Red's comments on the Shrewsbury FF thread, I have to say that I took my son and a friend's daughter, aged 29 and 20 respectively, to Shrewsbury for their first taste of a 'folk' festival. They loved Show of Hands, Salsa Celtica and, in particular, Bellowhead.

One of the outcomes is that he has been listening to recordings of Spiers and Boden, spotted a track that I have a recording of by somebody else performing in a more 'traditional' mode and unearthed the history of the piece.

Bellowhead caught his attention, kept him engaged, excited him and has, maybe, started him on a road that I never could with my band's a capella renditions of 'folk' music. If as a result of that he goes to smaller festivals, pub sessions, singarounds and so on then, IMHO, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, and others that get bums on seats, are performing a service to traditional music and deserve to be recognised. There'll be someone there when the rest of us have gone to the great (not too loud)ceilidh in the sky!