Howard Jones

Snail, of course you have authority over the people who come through the door of your club.

We like to think we are amongst friends.

Perhaps you choose to avoid that responsibility,

Perhaps we have a different idea of what our responsibilities are.

and simply provide a venue and tell the audience to get on with it.

Not quite what I said. Please re-read my last post.

Perhaps you are fortunate enough to have a strong enough body of singers for that to work

Fortunate? Or could it be a consequence of our policy?

I spent the other evening with a couple of friends, professional musicians with a national, even an international, reputation. Whilst much of their repertoire could be considered "folk", most of their work is now in arts centres and arts festivals rather than in folk clubs. They told me they were embarrassed when people turned up to see them in a folk club and had to sit through poor-quality and amateurish floorspots.

I think any performer who starts complaining about the quality of their audience needs to consider why they are doing it. I have fond memories of an occasion a while ago when a floor singer forgot his words and was prompted from the front row...by Martin Carthy.

This is all too prevalent, does nothing to promote folk music, and risks driving away those people who do want to hear good folk music.

Perhaps you'd like to browse our website Lewes Saturday Folk Club and see whether you think we are doing nothing to promote folk music and driving people away. I think you might find a few familiar names on the list of past workshops. You could ask them what they think.