"Banjiman, would 'FARTS' be a thinly veiled dig at that venerable body the AFO?"

Absolutely not, any similarity to people (or persons) living or dead is purely coincedental.... probably.

My post was purely tongue in cheek (or b****** as Arthur itus so delicately put it), however, there is an element of truth around the points made by Paul Davenport, GSS and yourself Mr Hounds.

There do seem to be a group of artists who are on the Festival (and other good bookings) merry-go-round. Often this is based on them being extremely good...... though I would contend that there are many excellent acts who don't seem to get the same backing from the "industry". Sometimes puzzling to know why. There are also some "headliners" that are pure hype.

There is also undoubtedly a reality that some acts do pull in the punters far more than others do, again I often scratch my head to know why.

I can think of one act that seems to have more bookings (at Folk Clubs & festivals) than he/she knows what to do with who appears to me (and I have seen him/ her) to basically do acoustic covers.... done very well but I do struggle to see the folk connection (and I'm no purist).

Clubs and festivals do need the artists that "pull" though, it gets very depressing to put a lot of effort into organising and promoting a night and then only a dozen people turn up.

In my experience audiences in the folk world are very conservative and really only turn out for acts they have seen before or those who have made it into the music press or onto mainstream radio (or Mike Harding at least)..... which leaves a large group of very talented, entertaining acts out in the cold.

Very frustrating as an organiser to know how to change this situation.

Economic realities dictate that you have to major on acts that will put bums on seats......though I try not to do this exclusively, but when I do take chances on lesser known but brilliant (IMHO) acts, the club invariably loses money.

So, Tim, grading is done on many levels, but "pulling power" is one of the major factors.