Trouble with most folk rock is that it's far more dated than most of the rest of the current folk scene . .

I suppose I've spent about 30 years trying to get young people listening to folk music, with at least an occasional degree of success . Folk Rock as a whole would never be a genre I'd recommend to . . well, anyone, really!

To really get someone hooked on folk you've got to get them to a musical experience which makes the hairs on the back of their neck tingle . . and 98% of Folk Rock doesn't do that, great fun though it might be.

In the three years when I was promoting concerts the band which had the greatest success with young people was Flook! (and that was even before they had a bodhran player).

So . . I can't find much to disagree with your assessment of things, Sam . . But what were you doing back at this year's semi-finals??

Oh, as an aside . . At Sidmouth this year, after the Martin Simpson concert, we were talking to a German woman who'd heard Martin in Oxford, almost by chance, and as a result of that she'd decided to do a bit of "exploring" of what Folk was all about . . She was enjoying Sidmouth musically, but she said what really struck her was the LACK of age division amongst the audiences.

And my daughter (slightly older than Sam) likes considerably less Folk/Rock than I do, but will make an exception for Home Service . .

Just my (also long-winded) 2p . .

G.