Snail--I am sure that your performers receive the best compensation that you can give them--and I don't mean to be critical of the way that you handle your affairs. My initial comment was really an observation, not a suggestion.

I will rephrase my point--If there were a lot of opportunities to earn a solid, steady wage by performing folk music, more would enter the arena, more would stay with it, and the music would be enhanced.

The $64,000 Question, of course, is, "How do you make that happen?".   There certainly are a lot of ways to do it, but the real question is, "Who wants to?"