Well, I got to know 'Catters from joining Mudcat, none of whom (I think) I knew previously. But I knew a HELL of a lot of traditional music practioners and supports before participating in the 'Cat, and still do. If we're clocking up numbers, the Association of Festival Organisers/Arts Council of England published some pretty substantial figures last year. I know that we, at www.trac-cymru.org have about 900 on our mailing list so those aren't bad numbers.

There's also the fact that many of the 'folkies' who I respect the most would never consider themselves such (like my mother, for example); people who just 'know a lot of good singin' songs'. Once you start categorizing people, you leave out more than you include...

sian