I really like English folk music too. It too many fruitless years of searching before I was able to start finding Engish recorded music in any quantity and quality (about the mid-nineties) in England. Now things seem to be a lot better on that front (although most chain stores still mainly only stock Irish or Scottish it they stock any folk music at all).

Why was there such a dearth in English music and dance from the 1960s to the 1990s? To paraphrase Paul B above: was it a combination of the only exposure many people had was to seeing either(i) morris dancing (which was music played for dancing to and therefore not, perhaps, the most exciting to listen to or play without dancers) or (ii) the Irish migrant workers playing tunes in pub sessions for joy of playing tunes together (and without the necessity to cater to the needs of dancers)?