WLD, you're attributing things to me that I never said. I didn't allude to anything that "alienates most of the population". I was referring to those who make a living by playing at big concerts.

The most recent example that was in my mind was Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham who are currently touring. They played in my area to a packed and enthusiastic concert crowd and I hope they went away with enough money to make it worth their while. They also, for what it's worth, entertained some locals after the concert, at the pub where they were staying, for free. I don't think this makes them "elitist" or in any way excludes the wider pulic - on the contrary, by playing at a big venue, they're making their music available to a much wider audience than if they just did the club circuit.

Musicians of this calibre deserve to get proper professional fees for what they do, and the economics of it mean that it simply won't be possible for them to get what they're worth by playing to the diehard folkies in clubs. Playing at big concerts also spreads the music much more widely out into the community, which seems like a good thing to me.

Marje