Leadfingers, to the hapless folk who have been barraged by rock and Nashville country all their lives, "Irish" has come to refer to authentic traditional music of the British Isles or America. Music that's crisp and quick, played on a fiddle in 4/4 or 6/8.

The druggie next door once heard us playing Renaissance music, and she was tickled pink, She asked my husband if that was Irish music. He told her that it was not quite Irish music, but it was a lot like it.

We folkies know that such music might have come from Ireland, Scotland, Newfoundland or Texas, but to the man on the street, it's Irish.   

Naturally the media is in no hurry to clear this up. Once the general public started hearing this music, Nashville would go straight down the tubes. It would be like allowing one clean spot on an old rug.