I am rather baffled by the either/or point being made here, both in the original post and in the OP's further post where he contrasts Jools Holland's audience with Dougie Maclean's....surely this is comparing apples and oranges? Why can't both be seen as good? I have no particular interest in either artist, but the comparison seems rather unfair given that Jools Holland has a high national profile, both from his time in Squeeze and as a solo artist since, and he is no doubt helped massively by his hosting of a flagship music show on BBC TV. Quite why that should be a stick to beat Dougie Maclean with, I don't know!

In addition, if numbers and audience giddiness equalled quality then you would presumably be extolling the virtues of the Bay City Rollers and the winner of the latest BGT/X Factor/Voice shite as being far superior to Jools and his Orchestra! By the way, I am far from a typical "folkie", being an old rocker who is primarily into bluegrass and old-timey (American) music these days, so I am certainly not defending the UK folk scene per se.

Maria