It's a moan I frequently have myself... there are performers who don't exactly fit in with any one particular genre, but they seem to think the folk club is somewhere where they should be able to find work. This isn't helped by folk club organisers who book them, thus giving them encouragement.

I have wide tastes in music, but have expectations of what I should have offered to me at different venues.

For example, a classical orchestral concert should not be offering me a medley of Beatles hits - unless it was clearly advertised that such a departure from the 'norm' was in the programme, and there was a good reason for it to be so.

It's common for a 'folk style' item to be included somewhere in a rock concert, but this is the exception and not the whole of the concert programme.

Similarly, I don't mind a folk performer offering a 'novelty' item which is not strictly 'mainstream folk' (whatever that is!!).

A good example is Brian Peters - he often uses a Rolling Stones classic as an encore, admittedly performed in a more 'folky' style that the Stones themselves...

Your audience turns up because they know your standards. To deviate from such standards would be letting them down.

No, you stick to your guns. I'm sure there's more than enough 'suitable' performers to book without worrying about those who want to impose their values upon you or your audience.