"On the other hand, commercial success could arguably be considered to represent the death knell of any art form, in as much as bar some highly unique and innovative artists, most stuff that is extremely popular also tends to be very bland, formulaic and faceless. And that too perhaps represents a form of 'death' IMO (just consider BritArt)."

Except that BritArt was never anything more than pure marketing; it set out to service a certain consumer group and that was that. Look at Damien Hirst's new paintings; even now those very critics who praised his early work are bleating that the Emperor's got no clothes. No shit sherlock.

I would argue that commercial success for most of the folk artists we know and admire is borne out artistic integrity and commitment to the music rather than them being bigged up from the outset by some corporate marketing machine (even if that happens at some point in their career). We have probably all been to the gigs of big folk names when they were slogging the circuit making a name for themselves through sheer hard work and love of the music.

Lizzie gets a kicking here frequently because of the way she words her posts. Her comments are no more or less relevant than anyone else's regardless of whether she's a singer, listener or musician. It's just part of the Mudcat feeding frenzy, and it's not too pretty to watch.