From what I can tell, the event last week was largely about the work of others, rather than Sam Lee's collecting. Sam Lee makes a lot of claims for his own "collecting" work that are, as far as I can see, completely unsubstantiated. Where are these songs that "Sharp overlooked", and where is the evidence? What are the songs that Sam Lee sings "that know one else sings" and what does that mean, exactly?

If this material is what it claims to be, it should be collected in a way that can be reviewed academically. The songs should be cross-referenced against other known versions, connections to songs collected in the same geographical places should be made, and it should be a resource available to all. Is that what Sam Lee is doing? As far as I can see, it is not. Instead he parades members of the gypsy community in front of people, much the way Lomax paraded Big Bill Broonzy in front of the British public, and hopes to gain some sort of credibility from the association.

Sam Lee is not presenting us with recordings of gypsy singers; he is recording their songs with his own "interpretations". Similarly he recently crowd-funded his album; one of the offers he made, for £150, was an audience with a real live gypsy. This is crass and exploitative, and the sort of scheme that Peter Kennedy would have been proud of.

There is no substantial body of work here. But there is an awful lot of self-promotion. It saddens me to see people who should know better sucked in by yet another folk example of the emperor's new clothes.