all of which is bollocks.

SoH are a jewel in the crown of English folk music. they have played trad songs from day one. they have learned mastery of their instruments in sessions throughout the English folk club system.

the idea that their music bears no relation to folkmusic is just bloody fatuous.
Phil beer could piss rings round virtually any other trad musician in England - technique wise.

its such an insult to pretend they are doing something other than the music they devoted a lifetime to synthesizing their own unique contribution to.

shame on you! Show some respect for the effort they've put over bloody nearly forty underpaid, underexposed years.

Also no one's given them a BBC2 television spot despite a no-bottom recording budget, inability to write a hit that the public identify with - like what has happened with the usual lads and lasses that Smoothops shine their light on.

SOH could be playing indie trance hip hop and heavy metal dance music - and they'd still bear a stronger relation to English folkmusic than the usual suspects.