As a 50-something, I remember folk clubs had a standard of singing (probably governed by the standard of singing and playing in popular music, somtimes missing today). I don't find that same standard in many clubs on a non-guest night - in fact I dread having to listen to bad singers so rarely attend round-the-room singers clubs, prefering to go to guest nights. (Obviously there are still some with even higher standards than 30 years ago).
In those days, you went down the pit, you ate, you went to the pub for the evening so the folk club was quite a natural thing to go to. In this high-speed age there are many more pressures on our time and pubs are no longer as conducive (unless they sell real ale).

On the other hand, there were few folk sessions then and even fewer folk dances then (due to the amount of WMClubs running dancing and some attititudes of the EFDSS), so as a budding musician I learnt my trade playing for Old Tyme, Latin, Sequence etc in clubs.
As WMClubs with dancing became the minority, I moved more into ceilidh, and nowadays have more work than I can cope with - so the folk scene is not all doom and gloom. Tune sessions abound, many of a very high standard which are well attended.


There are still a host of modern artists setting the standard for singing - listen, learn and apply some of it in your local folk club tonight.

p.s.
I am not anti-singing, I am out doing it tonight at a trad club - I just have an aversion to unprepared or unrehearsed singers.