Like others out there(here?), I had RUS before I had the internet, and I live a long way from anything that resembles a selection of folksong books. In that light RUS is/was a Godsend, but I never accepted it as THE LAST WORD in folk music. That kind of RUS fundamentalism is deviant. (Imagine if it had actual printed music in it, the RUS fundamentalists would be impossible!) It nonetheless makes for an okay "idea" book, for me anyway, but it stands on the shelf with dozens of other songbooks none of which I accept as a bible.

I see the willingness of folkies to use it bible-like as pretty strange, since I also see folkies as by-and-large not so fundamentalist.

Anyway, its cost per song is pretty low, even if the chord choices are weird (even if you can accept the key).

There's a group of books, I think the Soodlum ones, which also have some odd chords given, missing verses which are well known in the tradition (and not given as alternatives), and includes the notes which seem to me to be somewhat generic interpretations. Oh well, maybe we can't muster the jam to look beyond RUS...

Not to argue, but I like the idea of a Mudcat book, though I certainly couldn't underwrite the project.

In the meantime, I go to several sources (including RUS) but especially here, for songs. I'm glad our audiences don't mind our warped readings of folk songs, but maybe they haven't heard of RUS.

My $0.02, Cdn funds. Mooh.