@Richard Bridge
Well. No wonder you're bitter and snide about Brits playing American music if that's your contribution. I know that you get your kicks out of trolling on here, but just once, it would be nice to read a discussion on Mudcat about Americana/bluegrass/old time strands of music without some people weighing in with negativity when they're not even interested in these genres.

I also don't buy this "you can't sing/play it if you're not American" bullshit at all. You either can or can't sing with conviction, and if you are immersed in the music and can sing well, you can put over that music well. For me personally (English with Irish heritage) the American forms of traditional music just appeal to me far more; I just find the songs and tunes more appealing. I do like some English, Irish and Scottish folk music, but not as much. Bluegrass is also such a participative tradition in the small BG and OT community in the UK. A huge proportion of festival goers play and sing (much more than at the average folk festival in my experience) - and the standard of musicianship tends to be much higher.I have come to singing and playing through bluegrass and I'm privileged to know dozens of superb singers and musicians who play really high quality music across the continuum of bluegrass, old time and Americana.

I very much agree with the original post and with Stuart's post above. Hatful of Rain are excellent and I am so impressed with how they have matured over the last few years and with Chloe's singing and songwriting. Jaywalkers are also a band that could perhaps be described as Americana, and are doing great things right now.