I just wanted to come back on the opposition suggested by Spleen between submitting to the raw experience and caring about the labels. I think it's a false opposition - it's the raw experience that made me care about the labels.

Yes... but for every Lord Franklin, there's a bunch of trite ditties about life on the farm (for example), with little value except in their antiquity - "Out with My Gun in the Morning", anyone? It makes the average chart pop song look profound. And for every ballad with a powerful tune, there are others with slight, unmemorable tunes that exist merely as a vehicle for the narrative - in many cases vehicles that have should have failed their MOTs years ago, and would have done had they not been preserved by collectors. That's where categories and labels, rather than a subjective approach, are problematic. The whole but is it traditional, though? approach can end up a triumph of provenance over quality. And opinions about quality, like mine above, are subjective. So my problem with "anything goes" folk clubs is not about whether the offerings are traditional or not, but whether they are performed well and float one of my musical boats. What it says on the tin can't begin to help me with this... Having said that, I don't want Cliff Richard songs any more than Jim does! But that's my problem (and a reflection of my personal taste) and no-one else's. In the meantime, I'm happy that folk, for want of a better word, can incorporate what Jim wants and what Al wants, even if I don't necessarily share their deepest desires.