This is my cue to embarrass John Kelly (again)...

But first things first. Jozeph Roberts gave me my first floor-spot, the third time I went to Chorlton FC (February 2003). I did Sally Free and Easy, unaccompanied in a long fawn mac. Afterwards Jozeph said to me, slightly reproachfully, "You should have told us you sing." That was nice to hear (I mean, 'sing', not 'can sing'...) Thanks, Joe.

When I was a regular at Chorlton Kate Reigate used to be a semi-regular visitor, and was one of the few other performers who sang unaccompanied. But whereas I did whatever I felt like that week, Kate invariably did something traditional - and usually something I hadn't heard, despite my in-depth knowledge of the Pentangle and the Span. One week she did a completely different version of a song I thought I knew - that really got me interested. Thanks, Kate.

Les Jones was and is a Chorlton regular, and is also the onlie begetter of the Beech singaround, which got going in December 2007. There I met a bunch of people - former Song Carriers, Saracen's Head regulars and suchlike reprobates - whose knowledge of and enthusiasm for traditional song made me feel like a thirteen-year-old with his first Steeleye album. Fortunately I didn't run screaming; the experience opened a door that stayed open. Thanks, Les.

By the time I saw John Kelly do a full set, I was starting to get albums of traditional song & putting some work into finding songs and fitting them to my voice. (I was even starting to go off Anne Briggs.) So John didn't make me change direction, but he did absolutely confirm that I was on the right track - if a set of traditional material could sound like that, why would I want to mess around with anything else? Cheers, John.