There are in the Borderlands open mikes round here and a group of us run sessions at the local pubs that will have us. Open mikes are a problem if you have very different music side by side, its rather offputting to have to follow a rock band with a gentle song, and audiences take time to readjust.
Has anyone pondered on the fall-out of the famous singers and bands, which covered just about everything in the repertoir in the 70-80s They have left such a heritage of memories its difficult knowing how to put over a song in a fresh way when so many are fixed in my mind by the singers I was first exposed to, and as the repertoir is large but limited, maybe there has to be a fallow period before the songs can be seen in a new light(if ever) The youngsters maybe dont have my baggage.
Tunes seem to be more resilient and I am grateful to those who continue to write lovely new tunes in the folk idiom