michaelr, I think I'd have loved the performances and stayed fot the second set. Then I'd have had a chance to talk to the fellers and maybe learn some more. Obviously, they were in the wrong venue that day -

I sort of feel the a capella, ballad singer is offering a purely intellectual experience. I don't mean that the songs are "high-toned," often they're bawdy or silly or crude - I mean that they are appreciated actively & intellectually instead of pasively & emotionaly.

I mostly sing ballads - sadly poorly - and it's taken many years for the local singer/songwriter populace to appreciate what I do at all. But many do now. Newbies tend to run from the room but "trained up" oldersters might even make requests of me to sing.

I think that today's public simply isn't accustomed to listening intently enough to the words to enjoy ballad singing. It certainly helps if one might have the wonderful talent, charisma and story- telling ability of, say, Art - or any of the Scottish greats. But if that were the whole story, Art would be a billionaire and on MTV nightly. I don't think he is. Not yet.