Since I started the thread I'll take the heat. I should have been more defined in my statement that it dragged. I think that the selection of performers was as always, first rate. I felt that the order of things was the culprit, not the performers or performances themselves.
The diversity and variety is why I keep coming to Old Songs. Andy Spence and the selection committee are outstanding with their choices.
BTW Anglo, Beppe Gambetta is one of the reasons I drove five hours each way to Old Songs. Being a hammered dulcimer player myself I usually find them in too short a supply at festivals. And In the past when I was booking festivals and coffee houses myself I felt lucky and honored the two times I was able to get Margaret MacArthur for a performance.
But your point is very well made. Lets don't find Old Songs turn into a Telluride Bluegrass festival that hasn't seen Bluegrass in 20 years. Or a show that caters to the trendy and new without supporting the folks that made the whole thing possible in the first place.
Don