While you're all licking your wounds....
Here's my theory about what's gone wrong - with the UK clubs at least; I'm not in a position to comment on the US or elsewhere, although I suspect that things were/are run on a different principle. Our folk clubs, as I've already commented, used to be a good night out, for people of all age groups and backgrounds, and for a modest outlay. They were informal, friendly, and intimate, and the audience were very much a part of the proceedings. There was a formula which worked: residents+guests/floorsingers+a raffle, and an AUDIENCE.
The residents: Usually a semi-pro group, but sometimes full time. They were the basis of the club; people who didn't like the residents didn't come unless there was a guest they wanted to see. People who did like the residents would come regularly, and get to know the group and their songs and choruses. They would support the club most nights, regardless of who the guest was, or if it was a singers' night.
Guests: Typically, two or three guests a month, and a mixture of local and national guests, pro and semi-pro, and maybe the odd guest from outside the UK. And a mixture, usually of trad, contemporary and blues, with the odd bit of poetry and maybe a sprinkling of jazz, country, or even Early Music.
Floor singers: These could be regular punters who liked to get up and do a couple of songs sometimes - not necessarily every week; or they might be visiting pros doing promo stuff on spare nights on a tour; I've seen The McCalmans, Roy Bailey, Christy Moore, Dave Burland (I think) and Vera Johnson doing floor spots back in the 70s - and they weren't unknowns at the time.
The Audience: As much a part of the club as the singers. In those days, folk audiences confidently joined in with choruses, and there was always some banter between audience and singers; it was all part of the inclusiveness and informality. They paid to come in; otherwise, there would obviously be no paid guests.
The residents would do a spot at the beginning of the night, which might be 30 minutes on a singers' night, maybe less on a guest night. Then there would be the guest spot or some floor singers. After the interval, the residents might do one or two songs and then put the remaining floor singers on, often finishing the night with a regular 'goodnight' song; on guest nights, there might or might not be some floor spots.
So far, this is stating the bleedin' obvious to most of you, but bear with me. Something seems to have gone wrong with this during the 80s. There are still some clubs using this formula, but many are not. It now seems to be more usual to have a list of 'residents', who are really regular floor singers, each doing, at best a couple of songs on a guest night, and as often as not the singers' night is a singaround. In my recent experience, the old-style resident group has largely vanished. So there is no longer the focus and continuity. There is also no longer the same faithful support from paying punters. I see a connection. Doubtless some of you won't; so what's your theory? And if I'm on the right lines, what can we do to restore the magic. What happened to the old groups. I suspect that many of them packed it in for any of the usual reasons, and - it being the period when there was no fresh influx, weren't replaced. Now there are plenty of new, young groups, but many of them are not in a position to remember how the clubs used to work. Maybe if they could be persuaded to do club residencies, things would improve.
Sorry for rambling, but I believe this is the root of the problem, and would be interested to hear the views of the punters in particular.
John Kelly.