I'd say you covered pretty much everything I would describe as the folk mainstream there.

As your description shows, it's not a monolithic organisation surrounded by impenetrable walls – it's actually quite heterogenous. But it's still the mainstream.

I wouldn't say it's *suddenly* become cool to be on the fringes. It's *always* been cool to be on the fringes.

And let's keep things in perspective here. We're talking about one particular album (Nancy Wallace's 'Old Stories') being nominated for a Horizon award. It's a bit less Smooth than the usual. Nancy W isn't as much of a regular on the folk circuit as most. But it's hardly a 'difficult' album: it's quite mellow and pretty, in fact.