I have to agree with Deidre and quantock. That has nearly always been my experience with folkies. I think of them as my family - and that includes all the ones I haven't met yet. They were the people who helped me move house a few years ago when I was having flatmate problems, and they are the ones who are always there when I need a friend.
A friend of ours, Billy, who ran the Merry Muse folk club in Canberra, had a slogan on all his mailouts - "There are no strangers here - only friends we have not met yet!" If you were at one of his concerts, at some stage he would get everyone to say hello to the people on either side. Sounds corny, but it was easy to do - and it's not unusual for that to happen anyway without any prompting.
And now I'm going to do something that I suspect is common to a lot of folkies, and think of a song on the subject (my son often says "Why do you always have to keep breaking into song, mum?") This is a truly awful song that another one of my friends sings - but I'm going to post it anyway. What can I say? The devil made me do it ;-) You know the Paul Simon song, The Boxer? Well this isn't it.
1 I am just a folkie, and my song is seldom heard For I cannot sing the tune, and keep forgetting all the words That's not unusual. But I try my best And I play the three chords that I know and disregard the rest, mmmm...
2 Asking only gas and free beer, I come looking for a gig But I get no offers, just a ripoff from this bar on Seventh Avenue. He told a tale, After six nights at three sets a night he'd pay me without fail, mmmm, And the check was in the mail.
chorus Lie-la-lies.....
3 So I left the bars and the coffeehouse feeling no more than annoyed, And I come to play for strangers on the corners, streets, and subway stations, anywhere They would go For the nickles, dimes, and quarters that the harried people throw, Playing Dylan songs, or something they would know.
instrumental
4 In the kitchen sits a folkie, a songwriter by his trade , And he tries to do his taxes on the money he ain't made on singing protest songs Against the war Or that Simon and Garfunkle stuff that folks don't sing no more, And he asks himself, "What do I do it for?"