I always hated that stupid pun that some UK folkies used to bandy about: "snigger snogwriter". If you're a music fan just getting into traditional music, having been into rock or whatever, the idea of not singing your own songs is quite alien and takes some adjusting to.

So when you encounter attitudes that wholly dismiss the very idea of writing your own songs it is a real turn-off. And I say that as someone who doesn't write songs anymore, who performs almost entirely traditional stuff.

Granted, I can think of some regulars at folk clubs who always trot out songs they have written which frankly aren't much cop. At the same time, singers of traditional material that manage to weave songs like 'Paper Roses' (Marie Osmond) or 'Heaven' (Talking Heads) seamlessly into sets of traditional stuff. All part of a folk club's rich pageant.