"with respect, a healthy scene was when guests were a welcome break from norm, not an end in themselves - the clubs stood or fell by the quality and the hard work of their residents"

Perhaps I was fortunate, but the clubs I attended in their heyday had both. They booked quality guests most weeks, with occasional singers' nights, but the standard of the residents was also high - possibly because performing on the same stage as a professional makes you up your game, and partly because singers who hadn't achieved at least some mastery of the craft weren't given floor spots on guest nights.

Whilst I don't share it for a moment, I do understand Pseudonymous's opinion of Walter Pardon. Most people get into folk music via revival performers - for me it was the Spinners and then BBC2s Folk on Friday. For many years I had no exposure to authentic traditional singing, and didn't realise that it even existed. Listening to traditional singers can be challenging when you are used to different styles of performance, and it takes time to develop an appreciation of their skill, which on first hearing can seem to be concealed by an apparently unpolished approach. This can be even more difficult when you have only recordings, and don't have the benefit of the singer in the same room.

Some of us who start through the revival eventually learn to understand and value traditional singers, but many others just don't get it. For many, "folk" means only the more polished interpretations of the folk revival.