"As for the lack of young people at folk clubs, I attribute that in part to the white-middle-classness of them, and the retreat of said people into rural England."

I'd attribute it to young people having to do 75 and three quarter years of 'apprenticeship' before they're taken seriously! (this is said with humour, for those who have none by the way)

Tell me, if Michelangelo had been a folk singer, would he have been made to keep quiet?

If the art world were as peculiar and set in their way as the some areas of the folk world are, then he'd never have had any praise for anything, and yet, there was this incredible genius, just 15 years old, who was producing breathtaking sculpture.

Sandy Denny, at 19, wrote 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes'
Richard Thompson, still a teenager when he penned 'Meet On The Ledge'

IF someone has talent, they HAVE talent, and it should not matter if they had that talent from a very early age. Nobody has the right to tell them to subdue that talent for 10/15 years because they haven't learnt the ropes in the way they are 'expected to'

It's what's keeping the folk clubs empty in so many cases, or keeping them filled with people of just one generation. It's not healthy for the future.

The 'old rules' no longer apply. The young people are making their own ones. It's time for the older generations to perhaps learn a little from them.

Michelangelo 15 yrs old & drummed out of the folk club for not being experienced