Brilliant post Jack. I was beginning to think I was the only person on the planet who grew up wanting - but never owning a playable guitar. to lust after creating music, but to be denied it was the fate of poor English people for centuries. Coleridgein Frost at Midnight calls the church bells, the poor man's only music.

if there is any hope it is with the proles, as Orwell wrote. And for the first time in history the tools for great music making are within the pockets of nearly everyone. not mention the availability of musical instruction.

god knows what the next load of folk music the people of these islands will produce. or what style of presentation will inspire them. but there is much to look forward to....quite as much as there is to look back on.