I said: In fact I'd hazard that 70-80% of the material I hear in clubs of both trad and mod hue across the land is directly attributable to a 'festival main stage' performer.

Jon said: I'd be surprised at directly attributable. btw, a source I didn't see you mention is the events themselves. Probably happens more with tunes than songs but material is learned that way. Then there are the lyric sites which can help fill in the missing words, etc.

I say: Well, we may be defining 'attributable' differently. I'm not only taking about ownership or copyright. I mean that there is a recognisable influence from an identifiable artist or band (you have to know them to spot it, though).

But one other thought occurs to me: I think I'm quite unusual in that I'm a bit of a 'broad-minded' artist myself. Most touring pros fall loosely into either a trad or a songwriter/contemporary category, and many punters also tend to prefer - and so patronise - one end of the spectrum or the other (though there are lots in the middle too, of course), but I think I'm quite unusual in getting booked at all types of club (including the tune-heavy ones when working with Napper), plus I frequent sessions as much as singarounds.

I'm hazarding that I might therefore fall into a group who have a slightly more representative picture of the UK scene than those who tend to favour one flavour or another.

And of course people do pick up songs and tunes at clubs and sessions - but you often don't have to go very far back to find someone who DID get if from the Bothy band, or Steeleye, or whoever - and you can tell that by the style of the performance, with the influences clearly on view to the ear.

That's why I didn't mention them