"I have seen you acknowledge one. "
You are still miligng this and trying to score points Dave
I say what I believe - msitakes and all - you just refuse to respond on ther grounfds that the answer might incriminate you - worse than making a mistake in my book
All of you leapt on the table and screamed your silence when I quoted Martin Carthy's opinion of the how important folk song was - the silence was deafening
Apparently it's okay to lik Carthy's singing but when it comes to resonding to what he says - different matter altogether
The same when you were trying to put over Sheran's pop crap as soounding like folk
When I pointed out all the things that made folk song unique, the subjects they covered - humour, tragedy eroticism, war, seagoing, poaching, transportation.... compared to the whiigeing of an unidifiable feller whingeing about losing his equaklly unidentifiable girl.... total silence again
"The number of clubs began to decline in the 1980s, in the face of changing musical and social trend"
No they.... didn't
Popular musical and social trends have always changed, particularly in the sixties and seventies when the folk scene was at its best
Folk music isn't prone to social and musical pressures - it is and always has been ageless and adaptable
This it utter nonsense - folk music would never have survived beyond the musical revolution of the 'Swingin' Sixties if it could be flushed down the jaxie
People left because they were no longer being given what they were looking for
I was there and saw it happen in club after club - I'm still in touch with many people who went through the same experience - and guess what - Crap really did beget crap
I really don't need any more Wiki links - even you don't believe them and you continue to post them ( tell me you didn't doubt the number of clubs the last one claimed)

"So.. have any of the big ballads ever been adapted into movies...???"
Interesting point - not really as far as I can remember, but I used to wonder why - I came to the conclusion they didn't pad out to well - too precise, economical and impersonal
In the nineties there were two fims using a folk motif - 'The Unquiet Grave' over-mourning one
The Hollywood one , Ghost' was typical Hollywood schmatz, but the British 'Truly, Madly, Deeply' made and excellent job of a centuries old plot - well worth looking out if you haven't seen it
Jim