I think George mixes up two things - "this whole youth/non-youth myth is all a part of the establishment "divide and conquer" strategy! Young and not-so-young have far more in common than tbey have to separate them . ."

There is indeed a divide and exploit stategy all right. It tries to exploit people by dividing them up and packaging and so forth, and age-group is just one of the ways it tends to that. Labelling different types of music and the people who love them, as incompatible with each other is another example. ("What is Folk...")

And one of the best things about folk music is that it can show this kind of thing up for the lie that it is.

But the lies only work because they are based on divergences and differences and rivalries that do actually exist, and Mike is quite right in what he says about young people wanting to split off and do their own thing.

It's like some kind of social dance, with people going apart and then coming together.Advance and retreat. Turn your back on each other. Promenade. What the exploiters and oppressors want to do is chop little bits off it and sell it, so that the whole thing is fragmented.

But in the end it works out. I believe that there are more young people seriously into making good music, and who respect the music of their parents and grandparents generations, than there have ever been in the lifetime of any of us.