Ah meant to say Steve that I am glad you have waded back in with some positivity - I would't disagree with any of your comments. Last night in York I paid a rare visit to an excellent musicians session as a friend was visiting. If I hadn't been going there I would have been at the Black Swan Folk Club where an artist I haven't seen before, Dan McKinnon, was performing - I understand from a friend from the US who attends gigs all over the UK that he is a superb singer who performs many Stan Rogers songs amongst others. Next Tuesday I'll be attending thefairly new Devil's Own Acoustic Club where the Rich Hardcastle Band and Marin Heaton will be performing a mix of folk and non folk material. If I could drive at night I would be in Terrington tomorrow to see the Dan Webster Band as mentioned earlier.
I have listened to the excellent new Jon Boden CD on Spotify today and will be listening to Music Planet on Radio 3 tomorrow. To be honest I like a good singing session but I really don't see not being able to attend one nearby as a failure of the UK folk scene. The songs and music will survive by people doing interesting things to them and committing them to recordings eg Jim Moray rather than them just being preserved in their more original versions - though that too is important and I thank Jim and others who do this important work. Time moves on and I am certainly more happy with the state of folk music now than I was say in the 90's before a new generation took it up and gave it their own interpretation.