Captain Birdseye

I am telling you what I am prepared to pay for at a folkclub or Festival,

No you aren't, you are telling us what you think the audience want -

my point is that we have to have accurate labels,so that an audience knows what to expect

They were Folk Music lovers they paid money to get into a Folk club

and what is or is not folk music -

it may or may not be the case that Lennon Macartney will be sung outside pubs in 60 years time,that will still not make them
folksongs unless they have been altered in the folk process.

Lennons songs may/may not be good but because they havent been folkprocessed,and until they are they will not be folksongs

Someone who sings a John Lennon song is no more a John Lennon impersonator than someone who sings a Ewan MacColl song is a Ewan MacColl impersonator or someone who sings a Dick Miles song is a Dick Miles impersonator. They absorb and adapt and make the songs their own.

If I happen to be booked at a folk club I would not stop anyone singing anything.

I should hope not, it would be a bit embarrassing to get thrown out of a club when you were the guest.

If they asked my opinion on their material.I would suggest tactfully investigating traditional material[simply because there is such a wealth of good songs amongst it].

I'd love to see the response. How would you react if someone said that to you after you'd sung one of your own songs?

Thanks for the free plug for the Lewes Arms Folk Club. I think we have a programme to be proud of. I don't know if any of them will sing John Lennon songs but I can guarrantee that quite a lot of them will not be traditional and some will not have gone through the folk process because they will be sung by the writer.

allowing a floorsinger to sing a Beatles number

What? "allowing"? We don't demand playlists or give auditions to our floorsingers.

actually booking for 90 minutes someone singing that material,which clearly you dont do.

I have never suggested we would, not least because nobody is doing it.

the power to decide what music is performed lies with the organisers

No it doesn't. If I may borrow a line from you, you have some nerve,trying to portray me as some kind of musical dictator. Our only power is to choose who we book. We cannot dictate to them what they will do nor can we control who is going to ask for a floorspot. (We allways try and get as many on as possible.)