"Bring out the old hands, with the experience and know how, and worthwhile material not just gleaned and coppied from the last CD they have heard, and stage craft not just based on short skirts and giggling and the audence will be there. "

I wish that were true.   The "old hands" are not drawing the audience they once held, at least in my region. I won't name names, but I've attended concerts and festivals, and also presented concerts, with some of the finest traditional musicians are country has produced and in recent years the audiences have been reduced to handfuls. These artists cannot afford to tour when a promoter cannot pay them a fair share, and the promoter cannot pay them a fair share if the audience sits at home staring at the walls.

It is also unfair to judge based on "short skirts and giggles". Failure to recognize current fashions and style results in a giant wall being created.

As to saying that younger performers will not "ways appeal to the (older?) or should that be more established audence", then why would you expect younger audiences to find older performers appealing based on that logic?   That kind of thinking continues to create barriers and that giant wall becomes even more imposing.