The almost complete absence of clubs in universities is depressing evidence of the inexorable withering of the roots folk music in our cultural life. Back in the day it was the indie music of its time and a whole generation of young people who went to listen to that then fashionable genre also absorbed the traditional music of the English-speaking world. This was due in no small measure to the folk club format, where amateurs performed alongside the professional acts in a tolerant milieu of diversity - for example, a floor singer or club resident tackling a big ballad when Jasper Carrott was the guest.

There have been hundreds of threads here and elsewhere about why this is no longer the case but it's a sad fact that, with a few exceptions - festivals for example - the audiences, even for the high profile acts that are supposed to be making a new breakthrough into the mainstream (Seth Lakeman, Kate Rusby, Bellowhead, Show Of Hands etc.) are mostly bald or grey.

On the other hand I have observed that in the Sussex (UK) area there is a burgeoning interest in "Americana", played by and attracting twenty-somethings in large numbers.

I put some of this down to the poularity of O Brother, Where Art Thou but I'd be interested to hear other explanations.