I'm somewhat surprised to find myself in agreement with a lot of what Jim Carroll says.

The trouble with "trendy and cool" is that by next week it will be "so last year". Folk music needs to take the long view.

The line that really surprised me was -

Nor do I believe that adhering to this or any definition in the running of a club is either possible or desirable; without new songs, the clubs will become museums.

But those new songs aren't (yet) folk songs under the 1954 definition and therefore shouldn't be sung in "folk" clubs. Bit of a Catch 22.

The best of it was when you could go out three or four nights a week to listen to folk music ranging from reasonable to excellent....

Sounds like a normal week. Come on down to Sussex.