Dick before this deteriorates into a Kate Rusby thread, and without dissecting your dictionary interpretation of vital....at least she IS singing Ranzo, as well as other traditional songs.Your point about her is taken...I come and go with her too at times. My point is that Kate, yourself, Sam Larner, John Kirkpatrick, Kathryn Tickell, A.L.Lloyd,Scan Tester, Shirley Collins, to name but a few all have drawn inspiration from the same nearly bottomless well that is English traditional folk music, be it from Suffolk or Northumberland. I see Colin's words, modern, relavent and vital as more an indication of an awareness of that well of music. I've been held as spellbound by Eliza Carthy singing Fisherboy unaccompanied, as I have with Simon Nicol doing Claudy Banks with Fairport, a perfect song for his voice IMO, John K playing a set of tunes on concertina, and Kathryn Tickell doing The Morpeth Rant-it all fits for me personally.