Martin - a few weeks ago I had a guest on my program who told me about a wonderful game he and a friend used to play. One person would start singing an English or Irish song, and the other person would sing the American counterpart.    It could go on for hours.

When I really started to study folk music, I was intrigued by the connectivity between American and British Isle folk music.   I don't think country music would exist today if it weren't for the Scotch-Irish connection, and both owe a lot to the English tradition.

Understand your point though, it isn't everyones cup of tea.   Bill H knows my feeling about Gilbert & Sullivan. I would rather have root canal without novacaine then listen to one of their operas. I do respect what they have done, but it isn't my cup of tea. When I was a production assistant at the original CBS Cable, one of my jobs was supervising edit sessions on five Gilbert & Sullivan operas. The productions were horrible! It tainted me.