I'm not sure I want folk music to come back. Think of what'll happen if Mtv Gets a hold of it! Right now, People who play folk music play it because they like it. I've made a little money here and there, but I know at least 11 months out of the year I'm in the wrong genre to play for a living. Normally when I do play a paying gig, before the night is over, I find myself at some point wishing I was playing a ceili for a free dinner and a nominal share of the tip basket, or a session or house party just for the fun of it. I think it's great that there are people out there that can make a living out of various genres of folk music, but if it becomes too much of a big thing in the public's eyes, it will soon be diluted with people using folk as a marketing ploy. If folk reaches a point where record companies make the rules and market outlook becomes the primary factor in content, it will go from the cream to the scum rising to the top. We've already seen the contemporary singer-songwriter category start to fill up with would be rock and rollers who've traded in their Stratocasters for Martins. The more boy-and-his-guitar acts there are out there, the less likely it is that a new conniseur of folk will ever lay his hands on a John McCutcheon or Emmylou Harris or Art Thieme CD. (By the way, I really enjoy the *The Older I Get* CD). Look what happened when the world found out about the Grateful Dead's shows. Pretty soon, the parking lots were over-run with people looking for a no-holds-barred all-out bash, fueled by stories of cheap or free drugs, scantily-clad teenage runaway girls, and lure of not being held responsible for one's own actions...ever! Similarly, when a certain number of musical acts started playing a type of music that was "alternative" to what was being played on the radio, and it caught on, it became a new niche. In order to play "alternative music", one had to play the same alternative music that was already being played, and the danger of free thought by the young target audience was narrowly averted. I hate to be the devil's advocate but there is something to be said for keeping folk in the hands of the people.[] With as much ill-will as there has been amongst some of the recent threads, I'm gonna apologize in advance to anybody annoyed by this. [] Rich