Apologies to Sheffield for my cities are deserts comment. There are some cities that think of themselves as slightly larger villages and the folk music is great -- Sheffield is one of them. That is the trouble when you generalise. I still think most cities are deserts.

To further complicate matters there is in many places a parallel young acoustic scene, they tend not to call themselves clubs, but are. They have a lot in common with the folk revival of the '50s and '60s in a social sense. Our local alt-folk hang out is Imploding Acoustic Inevitable

> Sadly only about 2% of British clubs are any good; the general standard of local talent is very poor; many clubs are like special needs groups.

Bonzo completely fails to understand what singaround/sessions folk clubs are mostly about. The clubs I go to are egalitarian rather than elitist, I'm rather pleased Bonzo who is clearly elitist doesn't like us and won't turn up. Its all about giving people an opportunity to develop however undeveloped there skills are, however meagre their talent is, however little time they have to practice. It is wonderful when someone with incredible talent turns up and performs to their best, but it is equally wonderful when the guy who struggles to sing each week sings better than he has every done before. So 98% of clubs are brilliant, 2% are elitist and to be avoided at all costs. In fact musing on it now my fondest memories of 5 years in folk clubs are to do with people struggling to overcome adversity, not prestigious talent. The MS sufferer who plucked up the courage to play the guitar. A guy with Parkinsons singing with amazing passion. The woman who never sings suddenly deciding to sing the night there are only four people there. People singing songs they've written that help them explore situations in their own lives. etc, etc.