I didn't mean to criticise Steve, as it goes. I find that people get impossibly romantic sometimes when they talk about her, as if she sprang from the earth fully-formed. I was trying to say that the "family" thing is really a coup (who else has that support?), in that it IS a great way to work if you can do it, but it is still a business.
I do have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about the issue, but it really doesn't have much to do with Kate herself or her music, which I find pleasant but a bit boring. What I have a problem with is that she was welcomed by some people as the "new face of English folk music" (that again!!), and I am rather protective of that particular genre. I'd like to think that people would investigate the rest of the scene as a result of listening to her, but since the promotion is very Kate-orientated you get a sense of someone being a "star" , and when you get that continuity is difficult. As for her crediting herself, I am old-fashioned and like to think that people add to the tradition by subsuming themselves into the process and taking a "trad-arr" credit instead, but I understand this is not the most practical way to go in terms of royalties.
For what it's worth, I think she is a good introduction to folk music, precisely because of the accessibility of her music. Most people I know like her music and I never get to have a rant! Forgive me if I annoyed anyone! :)
pv