I had the good fortune to hear Frank Harte at the Washington Irish Festival 2 years ago. He did sets on several stages; I went to hear him in our pseudo-"Pub" stage. He did a fine set, and got Karen Casey and Mairead ni Mhaonaigh up to sing songs they had learned from him, too. He ended his set by getting his granddaughter up on stage with him. She sat on his lap, and they sang "Molly Malone" together - another generation of Dublin singers carrying on that grand song.

Frank said something about singing which I've taken to heart - that you should learn and sings songs for the songs' sake. He sometimes has people ask him why he learns these long a capella ballads or historical songs, when they don't necessarily make good pub sing alongs or performance pieces. His reply is that he sings the songs because he loves them, they're a part of the tradition and the people who passed them down over the generations also sang them because they loved them, not for an audience or performance.