I've read about half of this thread (sorry if I'm repeating what's in the other half). It reminds me of something I mused recently. An acquaintance of mine is a shanty singer. He has been known to look down his nose a little at popular shanty groups.

I am perfectly aware of "traditional" shanty singing, but I relatively recently saw The Longest Johns a few times and have been inspired to sing some of the songs they sing, whether or not I'd heard them before.

My acquaintance recently referred to hearing a recording of The Longest Johns and described it as being the worst he'd heard them sing. He described it though in a way that showed somewhere deep down some sort of admiration for them.

I pointed out to another acquaintance that popular folk-like performers, particularly those who sing traditional or near-traditional songs, are capable of acting as a gateway drug which could, with the right attitude from us, get more people into folk clubs and sessions. If we sing a shanty in a traditional way, for example, and they recognise it, they may sing along, and they may even be drawn further in to listening to that type, and perhaps other types of folk music.