The piano is a fantastic instrument, and vastly under used in folk music. I remember listening to Nic Jones' recording of "Master Kilby" and thinking that Nic may be a great folk guitarist, but his guitar sounded so weak compared to the rich full sound coming from Helen Watson's piano. Of course, those much maligned "new age" pianoists have made some beautiful recordings of Christmas songs/hymns and many trad songs such as "The Water is Wide" and "Shenandoah". By the way, shanties would sound fantastic on the the piano - in the hands of the right musician.