I have always performed for the joy of sharing the music with others, but have taken gigs (few and far between) when asked. There is no better buzz than that second of complete silence before the applause, when a song has really touched the hearts of an audience.

Next year I retire, and I intend to go full time and try for bookings (club organisers please note, (grins)), not for the money per se (tho' it will help me to a more comfortable life), but because I cannot afford to travel widely if that has to be financed by my pittance of a pension, and I have enough ego to want to share my songs with a wider audience.

I am definitely a performance junky, and would go to the ends of the earth to find those golden nights when you know, halfway through the second song, that you have captured the audience, and they are with you for the duration.

I have never found myself playing to an "unaccepting, unwilling audience", and have always felt that, if the feedback isn't right, I am not doing my best work, so I tend to change tack to find out what works. People generally seem to attend guest nights when the guest is one they want to hear, and as a folk club organiser I have never coerced an audience to attend. In fact I don't think that is possible.

Don T.