Sorry for the above; I meant to preview, to work out this italics business, and submitted by accident.

Would you be asking that question if their name was Carthy??

I said a long time back in this thread that the girls have undergone a long probation/apprenticeship.

Particularly Rachel, whose involvement with childrens activities at Cambridge festival (mainly clog dancing workshops) has had her moving in a different dimension from most floor singers.

But don't knock or mock them. They are the future. They will help to draw another generation into the genre, something that is sorely needed when most folk clubs I know rarely see an under 40 year old.

I'm aware of the "probation" of which you speak, I saw the Unthanks for the first time in Sidmouth Parish Church in what must have been 2003.

I don't hold with this folky idea of unity, that we must all get behind whatever the new young thing is, for the sake of the genre. There's room for a difference of opinion, surely? It almost suggests that we're short of options! I happen to think Jim Moray is the great hope of folk music this generation. Jackie Oates has been mentioned in this thread, as have Kerfuffle. I might add bands like 4Square, who will, either in that band or in their constituent parts, go far I imagine. Bella Hardy's new album is out, to throw another hat in the ring. All of these have served that probation of which you speak; the Oates family's folky roots run as deep as the Unthanks, I imagine (not that I think this should be a qualifying characteristic, but some do). Kerfuffle have been a gigging band for years, Bella Hardy was a member of the Pack and played festivals since the beginning of the decade at least, Jim and Nicola of 4Square are veterans of other acts as well.

So don't try and marshall us all behind the Winterset flag as if the future of folk depends on them; it depends on no one band or individual, and the intelligent music lover will continue to make free decisions about what he/she likes; I only hope they do it based on the music, not on the marketing.

As for the lack of young people at folk clubs, I attribute that in part to the white-middle-classness of them, and the retreat of said people into rural England. Pubs in the middle of nowhere do not make attractive or accessible venues for young people; where are the city centre clubs that kickstarted the revival of the 60s? With the Magpies Nest an honourable exception, London seems to be devoid of good clubs. There are plenty of young music fans around, but the prohibitive cost of driving, the nonexistent public transport to these middle-of-nowhere pubs (or equally arts centres, which often have delightful settings but are inaccessible except by car) and the lack of marketing to said young people mean they won't find the music.