Anytime I am involved in a session, and I have been for the last forty seven years, I am grateful for the sight of young people with commitment to the kind of music I have loved for all those years.

I am prepared to make allowances for the fact that they were born into a different world than the one I grew up in. When I was a kid, you respected your elders, no matter what. This is no longer true. These days you don't get respect by living a long time (except, possibly in China), you have to EARN it.

In the days of the "Folk Revival" (actually, it was more a case of "It's always been there, but we've only just noticed it"), we were the brash and arrogant little upstarts who drove the old 'uns mad.

Now it's our turn to find there are things about the younger generation that we DON'T like. Situation normal!

One thing I will always like is a young folkie. If he is inadvertently less than respectful, he will respond to a quiet word of advice. If he is genuinely rude and arrogant, he will, at some point, have have the rough edges ground off by his contemporaries.

If these young people of CAF, were booked to lead, then perhaps they were not well advised as to how that is best achieved. When I delegate, I ensure that the person is completely aware of my requirements, and if those requirements are not met that person WILL hear from me.

The bottom line is that we should, IMO, not walk away, but persist in showing the respect for young people, that we complain about not getting FROM young people.

That is probably the only way to get the message across, that we know that, just as they can learn from us, WE CAN LEARN FROM THEM.

Don T.