Whatever they describe themselves as, if they say their major influence is Jeannie Robertson I know I'll probably like them and if it's Richard Thompson I'll be bored out of my skull.

What a sad statement - to have what appears to be a blanket like of one musical genre and a blanket dislike of another. Naturally we all have our likes and dislikes - and we're entitled to them - but I would never totally laud or totally condemn one form of music because I "probably" would or wouldn't like them. I'm not, on the whole, particularly enamoured of rap, hip-hop or grunge (for example), but I have heard things in those genres which have caught my interest or touched a nerve. Jeannie Robertson's work is excellent - and I can't hear Richard and Linda Thompson's "Dimming Of The Day" without profound emotion. Equally, there are some performances of Jeannie Robertson and Richard Thompson I don't care for - but to praise or damn out of hand doesn't make sense to me.