Sandman, I'm sure what you say is right.

What I am not convinced of is the argument that once upon a time there was a large number of folk clubs at which, if Jim Carroll is right, there were high quality performances of music that either was 'folk' or had been made 'using folk styles', and that clubs stopped providing these two features - which led to a great lowering of attendance and club numbers, killing off the scene.

I do not accept this because it is illogical. If there was a disappointed demand for the offerings Jim describes, then clubs would have been providing that for which there was a demand. It is more logical to assume that recreational and musical fashions changed. Not to mention the zeitgeist (probably cannot spell that).