I am not aware that the situation has changed radically.

Starting with great books - the re-issue of Penguin as Classic English Folk Songs, the new edition of Marrowbones and Traveller's Joy are all excellent publications. As a s/h dealer Bronson will last for minutes on my shelves and I can sell all the complete sets of Greig-Duncan I can get hold of as well. These are emphatically not going to book collectors - I know every single person who has bought Bronson from me has used it, likewise the two sets of G-D I have sold. I currently have a customer who both sings and writes songs, contemplating purchasing the original Child. And they don't come cheap!!

I really think the folk process here is alive and doing well. Decent festivals with quality artists are legion. Loughborough last week was a sell-out, near as dammit, yes it had Lau (persoanlly I think they are great) - but it also had Geoff Wesley. It set out to use the "National" as a model for part of the festival. Yes it had a Distil Showcase - but it had that traditional strand too. And I don't see them as exclusive to each other anyway. And this from a strictly commercial enterprise. But that same succesful enterprise got a really good grant to take traveller culture into schools in the hopes of increasing understanding - with music and dance.

The scene has changed and in my opinion not always for the better but I suspect people were using similar words 50, 100, 150 and 200 years ago!! The difference is that we can now communicate it.







But of course it is much easier now to get at publications via the web.