WLD and Joe Offer seem to have gone off at a tangent about 'dogmatic traddy bores' but I don't think that's what anyone else is on about.

The topic is a well-produced, though quite expensive, collection of English songs and the OP wanted to know why every citizen wasn't rushing to lay hands on it. This is mostly because they don't know about it, and care less, for a variety of reasons.

Though what WLD is getting at with his remarks about 'more ethnic' and completely inaccessible' sounding English song baffles me entirely. England has always been a multicultural society and the EAC ethos, as I understand it, is that by understanding the richness of our own cultural heritage, we are better placed to appreciate the inheritance of others. If we take our place in the line of human endeavour that brought us to where we are, we will recognise more readily that of others, as anyone who has experienced musicians working with those of different cultures will know.

The making and composing of our own local musics is the most eloquent counterblast to the mainstream. Some will want to sing the old songs, others to compose new and some do both. Whichever you do is your story and you shouldn't believe for a minute that your music-making is not valid and that your story is not worth the telling. And it will help drown out the MOR mainstream tripe and stem the marketing onslaught.