Rich said "If our predecessors hadn't collected our roots for us, we wouldn't have any music to worry about to begin with."

I do know what you mean and I am sorry to quoted you out of context, but "worry" is what the genre that the collectors have created, has made us do. Worry, debate, study, exclude, preserve defend and generally do our duty, instead of just playing, creating and enjoying the music.

The provenance or history of a song or tune may be interesting and valuable but can hinder the aesthetic appreciation of it. Which is after all the song or tune's primary function. However the title of the tune or song can sometimes be it's main attraction. When that happens, it does make the musician feel a little superfluous to the proceedings. As the following tale will hopefully demonstrate. When Rich mentioned Chief O'Niell, the wheels in my brain started whirring…..

At a session recently, a person who was listening asked for Chief O'Niells Favourite. I started to play it. Or more my mind started to play it, my fingers decided to play something else, another hornpipe but not the one requested. I carried on playing it, intending to go in to the requested tune after. Before I could do that, the chap stood up, thanked me, said it was a great tune that, he had always liked it and left, quite happy. My playing may have been the problem, I know but there were a number of good souls helping me out.

In fact many musicians do not know or cannot recall the titles of the traditional tunes they play. At this session, a convention has emerged when asked for the title of a tune that you can't remember. There is a collection of paperback books, in the pub. You scan along these titles until you find one you like and that then becomes the title of the tune. ….I heard a great tune there recently called, A Hundred And One Curries!.

Rich, I think that your struggle with the term "contemporary traditional musician", just about sums up the tangle we are in. For music is always created and ONLY exists, in it's entirety, in the present.

I think Donovan's, ' Catch The Wind', describes what the very best collectors quite understandably, attempt to do.