I guess it depends on what you want and how you rate various services and venues. I moved to the Washington DC area 25 years ago because it had the largest folk club that seemed to exist anywhere, as well as the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Folk Festival. Add to that being in the middle of the east coast of the US with reasonable access to Boston, New York, W. Virginia, N. Carolina...etc, and THEN when Mudcat started having the FSGW Getaway become the semi-official hangout for Mudcatters who could get here, and we are sure a prime nexus, if not the 'center'...I suppose you could define all of the UK as one kind of 'center', but if you want to live in one town/city with the quickest access to the greatest variety of folk music on a year-round basis, it would be hard to beat the small town where Max himself lives...2 hours from Wash DC and near Philadelphia, New York...etc.....

Yep...Chicago had a lot of great stuff, and I could live there if I had to, but I think I am pretty close to Heaven as it is.