Fine idea Naemanson. I just noticed this. Sounds like some good suggestions here.

I'm not sure how typical my situation is but here's how I've approached my work in the last few years.

After years of playing "Commercially viable" gigs in order to earn a living, I decided to play only "folk" clubs and festivals, and suppliment my income with teaching. That worked fine for about five years, but I quickly realized that most of the clubs and festivals were as much in competition for survival dollars as the "commercial" entities, and were focusing almost entirely on singer-songwriters, with little emphasis on the kind of "trad-oriented" pickin' and singing that I do.

I started sending my info (CDs, reviews etc.) to folks who were known to put on "house concerts", and within a short while realized that I was having infinitely more fun with music than I'd ever had before.

You get virtually NO mainstream (or even "folky") publicity, but that has always suited me just fine. What you DO get is appreciative audiences, enough money to survive on, the chance to sell your recordings without a "retail cut" and one hell of a lot of satisfaction.

Heather and I have hosted house concerts in Toronto, and have helped set up larger venues for musicians who can draw larger crowds. Please count us in, and keep brainstorming.

Right now we're trying to make it viable for Matt Watroba and a couple of his musical friends to come to Toronto from Ann Arbour. Gonna bill it as "Michigan Folkies evening". Maybe we can get Mick to take part.

Rick