RE my earlier post pointing out Ed Pickford's 'Folk Degree' song, it's just his 'tongue in cheek' angle on the whole 'folk academia' phenomenon. I have no idea if in his young days, he'd have 'leapt at the chance to learn at the feet of the best musicians in the country'.

However, the world has moved on since then. Unlike the amazing availability of recorded music today, very little was on tap 50 years ago. What we had in those days was the great advantage of hearing and meeting people who worked fulltime at a normal job, and had sung & played 'folk' material all their life until they were discovered. These people (Willie Scott, Fred Jordan, Willie Atkinson and Oscar Woods spring to mind) had the benefit of having such material in the context of their lives, rather than a business opportunity.

OK I know some of them seized the chance, and it was great that they did- how else would a Border shepherd like Willie Scott have got to Australia?

There were plenty of 'folk' performers then, too, of course, like the Spinners and Corries, and that was another genre really, likewise great songwriters such as Matt McGinn, Ralph McTell and Ed Pickford of course.

Those of us with a different view of the music and with ears to listen took advantage of spending some time with those above, as well as Maggie Barry, The Stewarts of Blair, many Irish musicians in London, Scan Tester and many others totally forgotten all these years later!
With great respect to younger performers, and I make no judgment about their quality, they do not have the gift we had. In these changed times, their love of the music has often been inspired by others from the 'folk revival' and not from people for whom the music was only PART of their lives!
What's available via CDs, YouTube etc is quite amazing, but there is more to it than that. I can only hope that the various academic 'folk' courses try to counteract that missing element, and although I have some doubt about how many products of these courses can make a living at it, I can see that it is one way that a balanced attitude to the music could be the outcome?
Let's hope so, I don't know how I'd have reacted to the availability of a Folk Degree in the sixties, but with all their faults, such courses should be one way of assuring the future of the music. One aspect of all this is that the general 'non-folk' public do enjoy songs with a little humour in them, and that part of the tradition should not be deprecated by 'folk' teachers. I've been to so many 'dreich' 21st century singing sessions (some of great quality otherwise) that a few people learning the 'Folk Degree' song and its like, would give a little light relief, and may even lead to qualifying students reaching a wider audience than purely 'folk' people?