The fact that they, and others, have succeeded in attracting audiences all over this country "
Quite often with only their own take on the music, which has little to do with traditional styles or even songs - the reduction in clubs and attendances id indicative of how their singing has attracted audience fior folk songs

I started out at the Liverpool Spinners Club and after eighteen months was becoming very bored with that very popular approach to folk singing - luckily I stumbled on the real thing, got hooked and have been so ever since
The 'Folk Boom' attracted huge numbers of listeners who melted like the snow on the slopes of Vesuvius, when the music industry lost interest, leaving only the hard-core, who built up a new scene based on real folk songs sung to a reasonable standard
As far as I'm concerned, good singing has little to do with popularity and lots and lots to do with interpretation of songs
It may seem odd to some but I've always considered singers like Walter Pardon, Mary Delaney, Sam Larner... et al, far better interpreters of the songs I love than virtually all the superstars and wannabe- Segovias, despite advancing age, with all the problems that brings
Over-accompanied, badly phrased songs have never done too much for me

The Singers Club was far more '"typical' than it later became when it refused to bend to the fads and changes that were taking place - Ewan and Peg continued to fill the place until Ewan's death
I can't think of a single night when I didn't go home with a bundle of good songs swirling around in my head

I really do intend to respond to your earlier post in full because I believe the points you made are important but at present I'm doing this between other work
Jim Carroll