Good idea Ron. As a performer, primarily in the US & Canada I've been puzzled by turnout questions for years. For no rhyme or reason, we have played to packed folklore society sized venues one night, followed by an audience of four at a house concert on the same trip. I've figured that people are working more hours and have less leisure time these days than they did in the '80's when we started playing out a lot. I think they are pickier about how they spend their leisure time. When I'm not gigging myself, I do find it easier to stay home myself, rather than go see someone else (I do fight that urge as much as possible, as I figure that if I want someone to make an effort to see me, I should make an effort to see other performers).

You can also say it's the aging of the folk audience. I know we've gone over well with younger audiences when they see us. But since we perform a primarily traditional set, many places think their audiences won't go for what we do. And I can see people my age not wanting to spend time/money seeing the younger "alt/folk" (what does that mean anyway?) kind of acts. I think it gets back to how much spare time we have and how much energy we have left after getting home from our day jobs.