"It's surely only a minority of the general public who have any interest in folk song at all"
That is because that is the attitude we have done nothing about Richard
The greatest failure of the revival was that we failed to get over the importance of folk song, not just fo the general public but to the world in general
One of the greatest problems has been that the exponents of folk song have failed to take their art seriously enough to demand and raise minimum standards
Now that has extended to turning the clubs into 'anything goes' venues where you might or might not come away having heard a folk song
If we don't take our art seriously we can't expect anybody else to.
I think the claims being made here are likely to worsen and confuse things rather than clarify them
AS far as those already involved, if revolutionary views such as these have been discussed elsewhere, they should have been publicied throughout the folk movement (or what's left of it) rather than having it sprung on us a a fait accompli in a tome that only folkies are going to acquire
Folk song, as far as I am concerned is, or should be a national treasure
Jim Carroll