oh dear...honest opinions are no longer allowed. the grey cock i encountered was every bit as bad as i recalled. i suppose its abit like any great flowering of artistic activity -there follows a period of decadence. and thats what i walked in on. to be honest - i don't suppose great feats of musical dexterity are really necessary for English traditional folksong accompaniment. but these people were shite - and didn't know it! i'm beginning to think -maybe you didn't.

i'm willing to bet i can find recordings by john mccormack, the almanac singers, and songs written by the Carter Family described as folk - long before 1954 was dreamed of. can't be bothered though. it just common sense - why would all these people give a shit about what some dreary academics thought up. it YOU who have appropriated the name.

i'd certainly heard of Tommy Armstrong before i met johnny Handle in 63. if i'm not mistaken there was an album of his songs in Boots. how can you sit in judgement over an artistic effort like that. have some decency. award whatever acolade he would have wanted. and i think he would have liked to be remembered as a chronicler of his people. a true writer of folksongs.