Interesting to read Colin Irwin's Guardian article (linked above)

Is he really a man of mystery ?

A folk hero.....or villain ? Arch-manipulator even?

Did he really largely ignore contributions from black singers when he travelled around the Appalacians?

Does the "Godfather of Folk" label have much validity ?

Other questions spring to mind...

Why has this project been greeted with such a deafening silence in certain quarters ? Apparently "essential" folk and roots music publications have ignored it to all intents and purposes. This article has been commissioned by the comparatively non-essential folk and roots publication (The Guardian).

Is the life and work of Cecil Sharp really so unmimportant?

Is it because newly composed songs might be involved? Or the fact that well known and celebrated singer-songwriters are key participants? Especially that one of them is American :-)

Or are there other 'political' factors and obligations at play ? Perhaps rivalries, jealousies and loyalties of some kind related to the fact Shrewsbury Folk Festival gave birth to the project?

Even the EFDSS don't seem (until the last few days anyway) to have been making too much of a meal about it....yet the organisation's HQ bears Sharp's name.

Maybe some of these questions will be answered in the concerts tomorrow and Sunday.

Incidentally, BBC Radio 3 will be devoting an hour of tonight's 'In Tune' programme to the project. Interviews and songs from 6pm...