Hoot;
"You didn't answer my questions re the Ballads and Blues Club."
Nope, I didn't go to The Ballads and Blues and hear Malcolm Nixon... etc. though I do recall a posting from MGM making the point that MacColl advocated the policy of singing songs from your own background from the stage. If it wasn't the policy of all those involved in The B&b perhaps it should have been - that's the reason so many of us turned to Harry Cox and Sam Larner for our repertoires, rather than Ramblin' Jack Elliot and Leadbelly .
I'm fully aware of why MacColl started the Singers Club - even got the article 'Why I Am Starting A New Club' in one of of Fred Dallas's magazines (or maybe that should be Karl Dallas, considering the number of times Fred and others took the opportunity to snipe at MacColl for the name-change - don't get me started on Robert Zinnermann!)
My wife Pat was a regular at B&B, she went along expecting to hear some blues, heard MacColl singing Four Loom Weaver and got hooked - eventually she became one of the main organisers of the Singers.
Now - you didn't answer my questions, nor respond to any of my points - five string banjo - what's your point?
Jim Carroll