Cards on table - technical problems have prevented me from hearing the programme yet, which is why I have refrained from commenting on its contents. A kind Mudcatter is sending me a copy (there's still a lot of that sort of generosity about in the revival, as I have discovered from this forum).
I doubt if Carthy did a hatchet job on MacColl and the group - whatever opinions I might have on his singing, I have always found him fair minded and generous with his praise of others. Personally I would have hated to try and cram six years into a single radio programme; I certainly would have been hard pushed to choose from the mass of recordings available for that time slot.
Rather, I would guess that any attempt to present the area of work that was covered by the group would have to be a superficial dip.
I wonder if he included any of the 'soliloquies' after the work was finished, when MacColl 'took off' and poured out his love, understanding of and committment to traditional song - some of the most inspiring moments I (and others, at the time) have ever experienced - as quoted from me by Ben Harker, "it left you feeling as if you were walking a foot above the pavement".
MacColl's main input into the Group was inspirational; he devised voice and relaxation exercises for us, most of which still come in handy, and he suggested ways of looking at and relating to songs which helped them work and kept them alive, but it was in encouraging us to lift the corner and look underneath that has been the most enduring influence he had on me.
This latter was one of the main influences in our collecting work; getting the singers we met to talk about their songs rather than just sing them - this was particularly true with our recording the Travellers' 'living tradition'.
Why wasn't Carthy asked to join the Group?
From the off, MacColl deliberately limited the numbers in order to make it possible for everybody to participate in the work - any larger and this would not have been possible and it would have become a series of lectures.
Being asked to join, certainly in my case, was an accidental affair, I first met them outside the MSG in Manchester, was invited to visit their home for a week-end and take copies of their recordings (I think son Calum still must curse me for taking over his bedroom and turning it into a temporary recording studio - cum- dossing place).
I was invited to join on the basis of discussions I had with them then and on subsequent visits (including a week of re-wiring their lighting circuit).
And, "reader - I married them"!!!
Jim Carroll