Being young and attractive is no bad thing either...

A well known young folk performer who fits that description recently told us how hard it was for young performers to get gigs... so that's not entirely it.

Marketing and promotion is a real skill and takes hard work. Some are better at it than others, and a lot of folkies don't whole-heartedly believe in it either.

"There must be very few FULL TIME professional folkiies in Britain."

Correct. And those who come closest do a lot of teaching because performing doesn't pay the bills.