When I first began to visit folk clubs in the early 1970s I shared the assumption that the English tradition was dead. There were a couple of survivals like the Coppers and Fred Jordan, but proper traditional singing had died out at the time of Cecil Sharp. "Folk music" meant folk revival music, and it is true to say that this has developed in a very different style from the original tradition (although the same can be said for many modern Irish groups).

As time went on I slowly discovered that the tradition had carried on and was alive, albeit only in a few places. I discovered there was a generation of singers who had only just passed away, who I never got to hear live but who had been recorded. More excitingly, there were singers and musicians who were still alive, and I was able to hear the likes of Walter Pardon, Bob Roberts, Percy Ling, Bob Cann and Oscar Woods, to name but a few. 40 years after I first became interested in folk, there are still authentically traditional English singers and musicians to be heard.

To say that the English tradition died out, or that the Northumbrian tradition was the only survival, is simply wrong. Yes, it was moribund, and it is true to say that the revival has often shown little continuity with the tradition, but English traditional music is still alive and is still there for those who wish to seek it out.