One thing that will surely kill folk music is the attitude that you are not allowed to do it unless you pass the tests set by the self-appointed (or indeed those appointed by others to be gatekeepers) - some of whom obviously have their own views as to the meaning of language.

If you can't contribute, and want to stop others contributing, just go away. It is such a shame to see those with a considerable store of knowledge about folk music so far up their own arses that they cannot think to apply it.


The endless, endless negativity and the gratuitous prejudice do far more harm than limited ability.



Leveller - yes, I hate my playing and singing, but some people are polite enough to accept it. I'd like to play better but I have been told that what I do has an individual character. I'd like to have a better voice, but if it's a matter of having to sound like an opera singer (ex opera singers like Jon Loomes excepted) I'll stay the way I am thanks, and some people have said that I use what I've got effectively. I'll never have the tone of John Barden, but hell, he does what he does and I do what I do. He's mostly a lot better tempered than me, too.

Most of the stuff in open mics is dogshit, the incompetent copying the antisocial. Don't take that as a model, it's nearly as bad as karaoke.