"well, every single folk club organiser I ever met."
Running clubs is not helping individual membrs develop
In fact, very few ran workshops to help develop new singers - the Critics Group was the first
It is often forgotten by the MacCollophobes, that Ewan and Peggy put their home, their library and recordings, their skills and their knowledge at the disposal of less skilled and experienced singers who were prepared to accept help and put in the work, on a weekly basis for nearly ten years - all while MacColl's loudest knockers were getting on with their own careers.
Who "got the ball rolling" is indisputable and whether it would have happened is one of t=he great unknowns.
The BBC did much to introduce Britain to its heritage, but lost interest after a few programmes.
It took a handful of dedicated people to take the initiative - MacColl and Lloyd headed that 'little band of brothers" and both were still at at until their deaths - no selling out to fame and fortune, no losing sight of the music and its importance, no trying to please all of the people all of the time - just sheer dedication
Would there were a few more around to replace them
Nowadays, it has become a dangerous thing to even raise the question 'what is folk-song' without getting stamped into the ground by folk police accusing you of being "folk police"
Jim Carroll