but we don't all have the same tastes do we?-for instance I can't stand the music of Tom Paxton -no hope for me is there? however, no point in holding a debate over who is better than whom-if you don't like cheese then you don't like cheese! Doesn't mean cheese is bad just that in my view it tastes like vomit!

I agree Linda - we all have our own tastes and that's nothing to worry about or be ashamed of. If you don't like Tom Paxton, that's your choice. There are artists I don't particularly like, and there are some of the Folk Awards nominees I've heard little of and have never seen live. As Surreysinger said further up, "you can't be everywhere and hear/do everything can you?"

In spite of me spending a lot of time in folk clubs and at festivals, there are still some of the 'major' artists I haven't been able to see. But then I've seen a lot of other ones I admire, who weren't among the Folk Awards nominees.

I don't go around slagging off artists that I don't like though, because I recognise that it upsets others who do like them. OK, if I genuinely think someone is rubbish then I might say so, but usually it's just that I don't particularly enjoy their choice of material, or their style of singing, or whatever - I can often see why other people like them, it's just that they don't appeal to my personal taste. It doesn't bother me though, because most people are like that (aren't they?).