First, thank you so much, Rick, for this thread. I hope it proves to be as interesting as the promise of your initial posting.

"Nobody in that band is really that good a picker". I have to smile a bit at that comment. I heard a little story on the radio today talking about the MP3 folks vs. the Big Music Industry, and one comment was made that if all the tape recorders, CDs, albums, cassettes, etc. disappeared one day, folks would eventually start making their own music again; because music is such an essential part of what makes a human being.

We tend to forget how small the amount of time it has been that music has been reproduced and distributed to a mass market. In the timeline of humankind, it doesn't even amount to a blink of the eye. However, folks have been even quicker to forget that music originally came from something other than a machine -- themselves.

And that music was played by individuals. And when the music was shared, it wasn't for the reason of "listen to me", but, "this is lovely music, listen and enjoy it with me". Therein lies the soul of folk music, and that's what makes it magical and beyond compare.

-- Aine