Some of people on Mudcat seem to have been predicting doom and gloom for folk music for years. Sure the boom years of the 1960s and 70s are long gone but I find there is still a lot of interest and enthusiasm here in Yorkshire and elsewhere I travel in the North of England and Scotland. There are younger artists with inspiring talent and I know that some of the younger people who open mike evenings here in the Leeds area also come down to singers nights at the Grove Folk club where I am a regular. Lets be more optomistic.