I posted in another thread that Alex Campbell was asked for more times than any other singer by the audience at the folk club I helped to run and in my time was never booked.

He got a booking at the University folk club in the same town. He arrived pissed, did about three songs in each half, the rest of the act was incoherent ramblings. We never got asked for him again.

I do not deny he had been a great talent and was a well-educated and articulate singer. Not that night.

WLD to compare compare tradition bearers and Alex Campbell takes us as far as trying to compare apples and oranges. Alex was a professional performer (some would say unprofessional performer). The tradition bearers were simply (often near the end of their lives) recording to pass their songs on. They mostly sang in pubs and in their own houses and to their peer group rarely to the general public.

And anyway - Joseph Taylor, Arthur Howard, Frank Hinchcliffe, Phil Tanner, Harry Cox, Sam Larner were great singers. Jeannie Robertson was probably one of the finest tradition bearers that ever lived. Joe Heaney was an amazing singer. Many a modern day singer will admit to having been inspired by them.

I doubt if even Alex Campbell himself would have thought he was better than them - and he did have a bit of an idea about his own position in the scheme of things.