"..would you have expected your mate Ewan to do it for nothing though?"
Why not - most of us on the club scene never made a penny out of it; I can't recall anybody putting their head in the gas oven because of that.
There is no reason at all that anybody shouldn't make money - or even a living - out of it, but if that becomes the object of the exercise, that's when you start to have to make compromises in what you do.
One of the finest fiddle players in Ireland once said publicly that it was impossible for a performer to make a living out of the music unless they were part of a group - if you wanted to be a solo performer - no matter how good you were - tough! Piper - tune - is that how we see our music?
I know enough about MacColl that he wasn't prepared to make the compromises.
Jim Carroll