interesting ideas Matt.

I think we're talking about two different things.

organisations like Folkus in Lancashire do sterling work in introducing young people to folk music. and I'm sure there are other such organisation the length and breadth of the land.

but what conferred 'cool' status on folk was mainly to do with its espousal by left wing bohemia - playwrights like MacColl and John Arden, the Greenwich village set in America, revulsion at the cold war and the threat of nuclear war - all made it cutting edge.

when the Cecilites started insisting that what folk music was about was the ladies dancing at Whitsun, and the row between the cages - that was the start of the downward spiral.