"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. "

Agreed: fringes in this context are not defined artistically. It's just who happens to hit the radar of the mainstream folk scene, and probably has more to do with marketing than music. Of course, Ian rectified that by giving Nancy and her compatriots lots of coverage, so they are presumably not on the fringes anymore. So now we have to find the Next Big Thing that's lurking in the fringes. That's fine - I think it's very good that we make an effort to look beyond the usual suspects. But like Dave, I think we also need to remember that novelty doesn't always equal quality.

:)