It seems that anything the Chieftains, Dubliners or Clancy Brothers ever recorded automatically becomes "Irish".

I recently had a hell of a job convincing a young Irish mandolin player that "Fiddler's Green" isn't "Trad Irish" (he'd announced that he only ever played Trad Irish tunes before he launched into it) but was written by a bloke in Grimsby who's still very much alive.

I'm trying hard to get some "crossover" going locally ...the pub and club sessions are dominated by "more mature" players/ singers whereas there's a very vibrant "young indie folk" scene around here, playing in entirely different venues. The two "sides" hardly ever meet, but I have some committment from some of the youngsters I know to come along to some of the long-established local sessions in the new year.

I'm also putting Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts on at Sevenoaks in April 2011. Although young they tend to attract a fairly mature audience. But as support I'm putting on Zoe Nicol who is very much part of the local "youth scene", which will hopefully ensure a really good spread across the age range.