I noticed that this very good thread has been re-vitalized again ... after NINE YEARS! I find that very interesting.

I re-read most every posting and I find that I have much the same feelings about "the book" that I've always had. It's a very fine refernece book, but it should be left home on the reference shelf and should not be brought to hoots.

As so many catters, who are more eloquant than I, have said: the presence and reliance on the book has ruined many hoots. I'll cite just one example:

In folk music, which really is oral history, the telling (singing) of the story is everything. From broadside ballads to current events, these stories must be told in all their accuracy and varients.

When any one source, such as "the book" is brought to a song session, it seriously inhibits the free flow and exchange of these tales.

I well remember a hoot I attended in Aberdeen, Washington (USA) in 1958. There were perhaps a dozen folksingers gathered before a roaring fire at the home of the late Richard Landberg. One singer started by singing "Danville Girl." This was follwed, by another singer, in the same key and without a break by "East Texas Red". This in turn was followed (again same key without a break) with yet another song of virtually the same melody and same basic theme. These songs continued for a full 25 minutes. When we had finally run out of songs that fit, we all were astounded with what we had just sung.

It's moments like this that stick in my memory.

Relying on "the book", or any book, defeats the purpose of folk music.

Just leave the book at home, where it belongs. bob(deckman)nelson