A Folk Singer is someone who takes a Traditional Song and makes it their own. They will take as much delight in the source of the thing as in the remaking of it to suit. They will also have the humility to recognise that in doing so they are not part of The Tradition, but rather The Revival, and in introducing their songs they will acknowledge the source and urge their audience to seek it out and thus experience the Real Thing. Recently I urged our audience to seek out Ollie Gilbert's singing of Diver Boy which my wife and I have remade as a two-voiced harmonious folk song with instrumental accompaniment all a million miles away from Ollie Gilbert's superlative unnaccompanied feral version which may be heard on the Max Hunter Collection website. One punter piped up Why should we do that? That's your job!. I shook my head in mock dismay, but maybe they had a point after all. I revel in the sound of Old Songs being sung by Old Singers; to me THAT is The Tradition right there. What the rest of do is simply Folk Music which uses that material, however so respectfully, to create a more palatable product for modern ears - or not, as the case may. In many instances Folk Music has become an extension of MOR Easy Listening; people often accuse me of being Too Extreme in my Traditional Approach; others accuse me of not being Traditional (or extreme) enough. As Oor Wullie says - Ye Canna Win!

One thing I doubt is that there is an overarching Aesthetic to govern what is or is not Traditional in terms of approach. The more I listen, so the bigger it gets and there will always be exceptions not to prove the rule, but to blow any rule out of the water. I always come back to someone as utterly unique and idiosyncratic and extreme as Davie Stewart (AKA The Galoot and my Trad Hero) who was truly a Master of his Traditional Craft and a perfect joy to listen to in every respect. We Post-Revivalists however live in a bigger world; we must acknowledge a wider range of cultural input in terms of what has shaped our approach to our respective Folk Musics. On one hand the Old Singers, on the other the New Singers, and on the other the great voices of our time from Robert Wyatt to Ian Curtis (speaking for myself) because Folk is (and always has been) just one small part of a much much bigger picture. Call it Post-Revival, or Neo-Traditionalism, but whilst I still feel it's essential to respect a very significant line between the one thing and the other, I nevertheless balk at the implications of pure exalted bloodlines in favour of a more inclusive approach. But that's a personal thing really; my inner demonic-dilema born of too deep steated a scepticism to cure myself of now. Whilst no-one can become a Traditional Singer, anyone can become a Folk Singer. All they need is a love of the Old Songs, and shed loads what Roy Castle called dedication - not to mention a decent pair of wings to keep above the bullshit.