One of the things I was trying to discover was the extent to which committees formal, informal, small, large, designated and expedient determine what is performed. Looming large in Mudcattery is '54 - if almost nowhere else - but more interesting (to me) is the functioning of lower level but more influential groups who decide what goes.

There may be an insidious, tentacled, illuminati style folk conspiracy reaching into every village hall but it's more likely boundaries are decided by 'taste makers', the larger than life personalities with which folk music abounds who get to say what happens. These are the people who decide whether something is acceptable or improper in the name of folk and it would be interesting to know what their criteria are.