"If you asked me what English folk clubs need, it would be some passion, anger, and a dollop of radicalism..."

Well, Dick Gaughan will be back on the road soon to dispense some of that...but you really shouldn't give the impression that *all* is dire south of the Tweed. Of course, although things are in a desperate state in the vast majority of folk clubs - and this what this thread is, presumably, intended to address - traditional music does thrive outside of them.

Go to an English ceilidh (no, it's not a lot like a barn dance!) and you'll be hit by 1000 volts there too. Thanks in no small part to the efforts of Mrs Casey Music, many festivals are now supercharged springboards for tremendous new bands who draw in younger people completely new to traditional music in addition to the "folky children" who have grown up with it.

Ventures like Folkworks and Shooting Roots are producing fantastic musicians, singers and dancers who certainly are connected with, and proud of their heritage. And yes, many of them don't see the folk clubs tucked away in dingy rooms above sleazy bars as relevant to them. I cannot blame them.