I hate and avoid "what is folk" threads so I'm not going to get drawn into one . . though the stretch of the imagination by which Kate Rusby is working in a different genre to Martin Carthy is beyond me . . . Though I'm not sure that's actually what Andy was saying.

So let me point this back the way I see it. There is a range of music which "we" like and which we see as relevent to this place. For any individual's selection from that music, there are a whole load of folks out there who have never heard it. And of those there are some who would like it if they did. That's before you come to the stuff which requires a little more effort to appreciate, which folks are likely to be led towards once they discover the musical riches we know and love . . .

Let me also make a distinction between "popular music" and just about all other sorts. Pop (and, to an extent, Rock) is largely consumed as background. Even at a pop concert the audience are not primarily out to LISTEN to the music. Whereas most other music ("classical", Jazz, "shows") carries an expectation that you actually make space to listen to it. And - to my mind - THAT's where Folk belongs. If it cross-feeds into "Pop" then so much the better, but that's still a peripheral part of it.

G.