Having posted the above about how many clubs I find well worth visiting, I suggest that the thread should aslo look at attitudes to instrumental sessions.

I fully recognise that instrumentl sessions fulfil a very real need for many folk music lovers, and indeed it has been hinted above that they some people can only get satisfaction from sessions. On the other hand they leave me cold and I never attend.

Fundamentally, we fall into three categories. There are many of us who are primarily interested in songs; sometimes accompanied sometimes unaccompanied. We can appreciate instrumentals and can enjoy listening to them occassionally and for limited periods particuarly when the instrumentalist is an absolute master of his instrument. There are others who get their enjoyment from playing instruments and consider an unaccompanied song or even an instrumental solo as playing time that has been wasted. There is a lucky third category which can find full enjoyment in both environments.

Conequently we need both a thriving club scene and a parallel session scene. Some of the comments above are from people who only fit into the session scene - good luck to them but their comments are not evidence of weaknesses in the club scene. On the other had some of the clubs that have been described if described accurately can only be contributing to the problems of getting the strengths and improtance of folk music recognised. May they soon come under more worthwhile leadership.

Richard