Crow Sister, in what way do you find folk music is made "pragmatically inaccessible" to you or to other working-class people? I've always felt that folk clubs and festivals are usually welcoming to anyone who shows an interest in the music - but then I'm white, middle class and middle aged, so perhaps I would. However I've come know people from all backgrounds through folk music, although in most cases I've no idea what class they consider themselves to be.

I do however disagree with the notion that there is some middle-class conspiracy to keep folk music away from the unwashed masses. The working class has twice rejected folk music - once in the early 20th century when the folk tradition was replaced by mass entertainment, and again in the 1960s when, after a brief period in the spotlight when it was taken seriously, it ceased to be part of mainstream popular music and retreated to the folk clubs. If folk music owes its survival to the middle-class collectors of the early 20th century and middle-class audiences of more recent years, it's because the working class has on the whole chosen to ignore it.