well naturally the size of the audience means nowt in some cases. have you ever been in the cinema watching a Mike Leigh film with more than half a dozen in the audience.

but an outfit like the Coen brothers usually have marketing schemes not available to theatre groups and English film makers.

Stuart I would like to agree but can't. All the pressure on folksingers in England to conform to stylistic conventions has come from the 'traditional' camp (who also think they have the inside track on artistic integrity).

The plight of folksingers who stuck to ploughing their own particular furrow has been more heartbreaking than heartening.