well its a sort of tradition in folk clubs. there's nowhere else you get that of toleration of amateurish ness. And fair enough....I suspect we've all been beneficiaries of it at the outset of our performing careers. The trouble is, some people acknowledge no imperative to improve - so they go on for years singing from loose leaf folders - after a bit John Denver gets to sound like the Dubliners, Cyril Tawney sounds like Bert Jansch.

I'd go as far as to say its traditional.