Ron, you said "One of the beautiful aspects, and at the same time one of the detriments, of Mudcat is the fact that we have have a couple of diverse "folk" communities here..".

No detriment at all, I think. The occasional misunderstandings are definitely worth it, because in this way we all get to hear about good performers or (even better) good songs making waves somewhere else, and the knowledge and the enjoyment slowly spreads. Not to mention learning tricks of the trade from each other, like the house concert concept which has been going in the US and Canada for years, and now is gingerly and carefully taking hold over in the UK as well.

And now and then we meet, too. How else would I have heard Alaska Mike and his songs, Big Mick's lusty voice and passion and that little Apallachian magician the LaPrelle lass?

Vive la difference, I say.

"Larner moment": Hearing the Songwainers one wet and cold October Sunday in a pub in Kettering, Midlands (UK), 1974 it was, I believe.