beachcomber: as I remarked earlier in the thread, there is a bit of a phenomenon at the moment, the most successful examples being Mumford and Sons and Noah and the Whale. Both of these bands have a distinctly American acoustic vibe (Mumford being, in my opinion, more influenced by alt-country and Americana, while Noah and the Whale seem more influenced by things like early Poi Dog Pondering).

There was an article in the Guardian only a few weeks ago which focused on Trevor and Hannah Lou (who run The Lantern Society folk club at the Betsy Trotwood pub in London). This article noted the current trend of village hall gigs, but again focused on alt-folk. This is a club that's cropped up in a village hall near me: The Sunday Saloon, Quorn

I'm not really sure why any of this should be depressing. It's something that's happening amongst largely young people, and they're making their own acoustic, folk-influenced music. It may not be the folk music that some UK mudcatters would listen to or wish that young people were emulating, but that's what happens when you hand over the means of production to the workers. :) Fair play to them.

I would still emphasise that I don't think this more recent phenomenon is particularly related or relevant to the English resurgence of the past 10 - 15 years. It seems to be something that's happening in parallel, will achieve a certain level of BBC radio airplay, and may well not endure in the same way.

The only thing I would object to in the Sunday Times article is the inclusion of the gloriously bonkers Mr Plow with the rest of the current alt-country lot. This guy belongs to no fashionable music trend - he is a true one-off.