After perusing this thread for a couple of days, I watched a few of those YouTube snippets at home this morning and have another thought or two to offer.

Now, I'm no expert on this kind of British folk music. My overall impression of the group is "OK, but not terribly impressive," but then again I wouldn't know the difference between basic competance and true excellence in this particular field.

What struck me was their generally unpolished and "folky" appearance. Now, those You Tube video are of such low resolution that I can't make out anyone's facial features, and therefore can't make a judgement about whether or not good looks are part of their appeal.

But after reading those semi-sneering comments about "frilly dresses," I fully expected to see a slickly-packaged act like, say, "Celtic Women." Not hardly! Sure, some of them wear dresses in some of the videos, but they look to be very ordinary homey garments, in some cases ill-fitting and decidedly unflattering. Pretty innocent, I'd say...