OK my take on singer/songwriters, I am really not very good at it and so keep my efforts locked in my own bathroom, never to see the light of day. Trouble is that there is a significant majority who lack any sort of critical judgement of their own material. There are some brilliant ones out there and I am in awe of them, but there are too many that are awful, they should stick to covering better material and doing that well.............I have had my belly full of............"Here's one I wrote when my wife left me"..........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
As for folk music being rescued, mmmmmmm,if it means to bring younger people in to listening and participating in the genre, make it more fun, at the moment I feel that there are to many "figure skaters" and not enough "bopping on ice" it's a bit like "strictly come folk singing" ....if it looks like a ballroom dance it is a ballrooom dance, doesn't matter if it was choreographed yesterday or learnt from aunt bessies grandmothers nannys sister-in-law's great aunt twice removed.
getting back to folk singing and singer songwriters, they are not the same thing although but for the most part sit comfortably with one another until one dominates, sadly we have one session so overwhelmed by the singer/songwriter element that I find it not such an enjoyable event, too many wannabes ............" here's one I wrote when I discovered my first zit".......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz(sorry cheap shot!)
On a lighter note, we have been recording again and there has been a marked deterioration in our voices since the 2005 recordings it moved Martin to comment that "we are improving all the time and if we record in 2015 we may sound just like the men on the field recordings and we can truly say we have made it!"