Forgive posting as "Guest", but - in an incredible coincidence, have just booked HH (precise date tbc), then stumbled on this thread - don't want to hijack it into an ad for our venue !

Several in our (small) club, on hearing the news , said words to the effect of "Great, one of my all time favourites". Many singers who do the same kind of ballads make them seem every bit as long as they are, and more. With John, the end comes too soon, you're hanging on every word (even if you know fine well what's coming next!). Buy one of his CDs and you're in serious danger of wearing your CD player out

Why not book him earlier ? We're a weekly club, but with a guest once a month. So, with rare exceptions, only a dozen slots per year. Audience need a variety of acts (although even our singer-songwriter guests are what I'd call "in the tradition"), and that includes a mix of newer acts as well as "old favourites" - even a small club like ours has a duty (IMHO) to encourage new acts, otherwise the future for them will be bleak.

That all means that every couple of years is really the minimum interval for inviting someone back. Given that sort of interval, and the number of clubs within a reasonable radius for the performer, the slots just aren't there to the same extent these days.

But on the positive side - I don't think the traditional club is a thing of the past. Having built numbers back up - both on guest, and "singers" nights - from a low base, experience confirms that there's still the demand for good traditional acts. Takes a lot of work, and it doesn't happen overnight, but it's very satisfying to know that, x months from now, I'll be sitting in a (hopefully) full-ish room listening to one of the best traditional singers in the country. And by extension, in the English-speaking world.