I can see the merits of experimenting in this way, in practice most musicians will do something like this at some point, whether it's appreciating the drone of bagpipe and trying to incorporate that feature, or noting that the swell-snap of a concertina really lifts a particular tune, so taking a leaf out the squeezebox book.

The problem, if there is one, with that Jon Boden quote is that he sounds just a little too programmatic about it, as if there's some kind of almost moral imperative to find some kind of special recognisable signpost to mark out English fiddle playing. But then again he's also quick to say that that's only what he does; it's what works for him.