‘One person's cliche is another person's discovery.’

Cool Beans, I agree entirely with your sentiments.

And here’s another thing.   Half a century ago, an older and wiser colleague said to me: “Wherever you want to take your students, you have to start from where they are.” That piece of advice has since proved very helpful - in classrooms, and in folk clubs.

My experience has been that for every listener who wants to hear something new and challenging, there are usually half a dozen who would prefer something familiar and reassuring.   If you want to persuade an audience to like - or even tolerate - the unfamiliar, then it helps to introduce them to it gradually. And if capturing the crowd’s attention with a song that they know and like provokes sneers from the sophisticated, then let them sneer.

Wassail!