"I can only tell you that this is not how the family sees it."
I never encountered such attitudes.
The fact is that, sadly, our folk cultures are ignored and even disparaged by those who hold the purse-strings - there is no money to be had out of folk-song.
I'm happy to share with anybody some of the comments singers have made to us about their songs - Walter Pardon summed it up perfectly when he said "They're not my songs, they're everybody's".
Some of the Travellers we recorded became life-long friends and we are still moved by the thought of their generosity and dedication.
Most collectors, certainly the ones I respect, never cheated anybody and without their efforts, the songs would have died.
I really don't know any other way to respond to the suggestions of cheating and monetary gain other than to tell it as it is - there are no fortunes to be made out of folk songs, there never has been and there never will be.
The people we knew, recorded and cherished as friends accepted that fact and we owed it to them to be as honest as we could with them.
Jim Carroll