One of the problems of singing to groups of folkies and folk music enthusiasts is that many of them tend to be a bit "spiky," and, I'm afraid I must say it, narrow-minded.

There are an awful lot of really good songs out there that used to be sung that now languish in song books. These were songs that audiences often asked for, and any singer of folk songs who aspired to singing in venues beyond his or her own bedroom was expected to know and be able to sing. They were considered to be the nucleus of any halfway decent folk singer's repertoire.

So of course you did hear them a lot, especially from newer, younger singers who were just starting up.

But soon, if some neophyte were to favor the audience with "Lord Randal" or "Barbara Allen" or "John Henry," there would be people in the audience who, rather than being disposed to be helpful and supportive of the newcomer, would roll their eyes and moan "Oh, God! Not THAT again!"

The result of this is that there is a whole long list of songs—songs that used to be considered "classic" ballads and folk songs (and, I might add, were the songs that got may people interested in folk music in the first place)—are never heard anymore!

From a number of points of view including the scholarly, I don't think that this is good. It tends to suppress perfectly good songs and discourages people from singing them, or even learning them.

Songs like "Wild Rover" and "Fields of Athenry" are excellent songs.

But judging from what I've read here on Mudcat, I can sing these songs here in the States with a good response, but I would never open myself to the hazards of trying to sing them in a folk club in Great Britain.

Now, in Great Britain, OUTSIDE of the folk clubs, they might be very well received.

This is one of the reasons I am currently more interested in singing for non-folk oriented audiences, such as, say, aficionados of Early Music.

Be careful that when you moan and roll your eyes, you're not shooting yourself in the foot.

Don Firth