Sorry, that last post was me.

But in any case, it also seems to me that on one view the whole idea of 'folk' being performed in clubs isn't a very 'folk' idea. Did the ancient elite who, according to Child, wrote the oldest ballads perform them in 'clubs'? I think not.

Steve Gardam's latest post made some interesting distinctions between types of events: all of these are likely to be attractive to people interested in folk music, but none of them seem to be particularly 'authentic' in terms of the original contexts in which such music is thought to have been performed. I am not saying this is in any sense 'wrong' or 'inappropriate', but just noticing it.