Al, I think what you're forgetting is that many folk clubs were catering for a specialist audience. The uncommitted who dropped in expecting what they'd seen the Spinners do on TV were likely to be challenged by it. This didn't just apply to folk clubs - I remember ending up in Ronnie Scott's after a night out and being just as baffled as your friends were.

I don't see anything wrong with that. Any art form worth its salt requires time and effort to understand. You first need to cut your teeth on the more accessible stuff, which may then lead you to the more difficult and more challenging material. If Kenny Ball's Jazz Men on Saturday night TV hadn't prepared me for what the musicians in Ronnie Scott's were playing, that was my failing not theirs.

Someone with "The Four Seasons" as their ringtone may not be able to understand Schoenberg. Someone whose idea of folk music is "The Wild Rover" might struggle with a Child ballad. The imbalance arises when the wrong performer is put in front of the wrong audience.

There is a perception that folk music is simple and should be immediately enjoyable by everyone. Some of it is, but some of it is more complex and more challenging, and takes time to appreciate.