yes fair points, Vic, but the good point about folk clubs[asa you well know] is that people are listening and have gone specifically for the music.
In Ireland where also the the tradition is more mainstream, I have recently been doing gigs in community centres [often in the middle of the day]and all the people love the trad nusic and songs, and on occasions sing local self composed songs, these are not songs [like some of the uk singe songwriters that are about personal relationships] but are songs about events that have happened locally]the difference between these gigs and pub gigs is that people are there specifically for the music