Don, don't believe everything you read on Mudcat, especially anything said by Big Al Whittle, Jim Carroll or Musket. None of them paint a picture of English traditional folk clubs that I recognise and I help to run one. Big Al and Jim both have massive chips on their shoulders resulting from their personal histories and I sometimes suspect that Musket is a serial fantasist.
If you're ever in the UK, get in touch. Amonsgt the American performers we have booked are Joe Penland, Judy Cook, Jeff Davis and Jeff Warner.