There are opinions that folk song originated as a fairly solitary art form – the lonely ploughman or shepherd singing to pass away the long hours etc. But we humans are a social species – we are rooks rather than ravens, and music and song have always been much more social activities.

In "The town inn and the country inn", the Saddleworth poet and writer Ammon Wrigley wrote "… just now there is a lad I know singing 'The Barley Mow' to a room full of dalesmen in an old inn on the hills … then one would stand on the hearthstone and start a night of song with 'Come out 'tis now September' or 'Westlin winds and slaughterin' guns'".

Sounds like a great evening – and not that different to a singaround or session on the folk scene today.

Any thoughts?