I don't think you can look at traditional music or for that matter music in general as a point but as a line or a field. To understand where it's going one should have at least a cursory understanding of where it's been. What some might look at as a quaint little prelude to the real thing IS the real thing. Theirs is the foundation on which the flash is built. If you don't want to play that way, fine, but there lies the roadmap to where the music is now. There is a whole lot of technique to be found there and a wealth of good material. Woody Guthrie is a good example of a musician who certainly was not a "hot picker" but had a lot more integrity and emotional value than a lot of what's going around today. I heard an old tape in a concert archive of Jean Ritchie and her husband, George (Picken?). It was a very warming experience to say the least. I saw Utah Phillips and Rosalie Sorrels (separately) and they both put a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. As death by whisky brought up, In Irish Music, one must look at the solo works of Joe Burke, Paddy Glackin et. al. to first get the tune. I'd say take it on step further, and listen to all the great recorded music of the '20s. Coleman, McKenna, Morrison and so on. That's the music in a nutshell and what's more, they were good players. To just listen to what's going on today and claim to know the music is like coming into a movie in the middle without seeing the setup, and then trying to explain the story. What's more, the stuff that sounds antiquated when you first here it will come to sound better and better as you get to understand the music.



Or to sum it up, Only those who know their history will be lucky enough to repeat it.

Rich