Jim Carroll

are you being complacent because your own club is doing well

No, I'm just reporting my experience that we put on for the most part traditional and "in the tradition" music and attract an audience. A hundred yards away, there is another club doing the same. I know of many others.

I go to major and minor folk festivals and other smaller gatherings where I find traditional music thriving. My fellow folk club residents go to yet others. We frequently book guests who seem to be able to arrange extended tours and don't just rely on us for bookings.

You, on the other hand, were told by a friend that a folk club in the north of England once held an evening of Beatles songs and on the basis of this you declare the UK folk scene moribund.

I know there are new songs being written in the UK - I wasn't aware that they were being published to any great extent, and I'm not sure how many are based on traditional forms, which is what I was talking about.

Quite.