I agree Les, it's disappointing that the only article about folk in The Guardian is a negative one.

I just hope that any article about folk (whether good or bad) will incite some sort of interest in the genre, which is so under-represented in the press. You never know, people might go out to buy the Seth Lakeman album, which might lead them to Carthy, etc.

It's both easy and popular for the press to bash the traditionalists, but without them the line between trad and contemporary would be even more blurred – and people like Seth Lakeman and other younger folkies (like myself) might never have found the sources and songs that inspire new workings of traditional tunes.

Hope that made some sense!

-David