Sorry about the ammount of Wurzels. this from today's Western Daily Press.

We may be the Wurzels but we bain't yokels!

According to the Culture Minister Kim Howells, listening to Somerset folk singers would be his idea of hell.

What I can say is that thousands of people do not share his view. I joined the Wurzels 34 years ago and we are still very popular.

My first reaction was that this guy should get out and about more often. He describes himself as a simple urban boy from Pontypridd – perhaps he should become a more learned rural one.

I believe the Minister is a jazz fan – well, I have been to some jazz performances and have been bored to tears. There is a snob value about a lot of jazz – and people aren't prepared to listen to other types of music.

He wouldn't dare – he'd get strung up

But would he describe Bob Marley – one of the world's greatest folk singers – as boring? I don't think so. Would he say his own countryman Max Boyce was boring? He wouldn't dare say it in the valleys of Wales because he would get strung up.

And if it is because it is coming from Somerset then perhaps we should take him to the Race Relations Board.

It depends what he thinks of as "folk". You could call our music pop folk, or scrumpy and western. There is no need for folk to be boring. There is no such thing as bad music – there is only music played badly.

He could educate himself and listen to the late, great Adge Cutler's lyrics to our songs because they are wonderful.

Clearly a lot of people don't share the Minister's views. This year we were very busy, performing up to 18 gigs a month during the summer and we are very popular with students.

We are in Stafford this weekend and at The Works, for 18 to 24-year-olds, in Bristol on Monday. We do tour around the country but try to keep south of Birmingham. We haven't a fan club but do have a website. All the gigs are sell-outs.

I'm the only Scottish Wurzel. I'm from Edinburgh and had never heard of the Wurzels because I had been out of the country. A friend who played base for Acker Bilk said a friend of his was looking for an accordion player – so I joined in 1967. It is very similar to Scottish music. I loved it but in the beginning I didn't know what I was singing about because I had never been to the West Country.

Now I'm an honorary North Somerset man – the only Scottish Wurzel in captivity. We've got a preservation order on us.

Quite a few people I have spoken to about the Minister's remarks wonder what he was thinking about. He put his mouth in operation before putting his brain in gear.

But this is a serious matter. Bristol is bidding to become the European Capital of Culture in 2008 and we have been asked to be behind it. We are highly honoured to be asked, and we hope Bristol – with the South-west region behind it – will be successful.

But Mr Howells is part of the Government which will be deciding which city is chosen as the winner, so he should be unbiased. It is very worrying to think that he might be against us from the start and before the bid has even been submitted. Now it is almost a challenge to get Mr Howells to come and see us.

As Culture Minister he shouldn't be saying things like listening to Somerset folk singers sounds like hell. He should be supporting folk as part of the British cultural heritage – that is what we are paying him to do.

We think he was talking a load of dung.