I love ballads, love the sense of history in them, the story in and around them, their rhythm and pace and am thankful that there are still sessions in clubs and at festivals where they can be sung and celebrated. To me, they represent our heritage, both in words and also our 'aural/oral' history from the days before mass production of books etc.

I appreciate that many people go to a club to perform, rather than listen but (in my opinion) it is sad that we have, in many places, lost the ability to 'share' songs, to find out about them, their backgrounds and stories, in our need to be heard.

Don't know the answer but I would hate to see a 'time limit' on songs, removing chunks of our repertoires and history in one tick of the clock. This is just my take on the matter...