Dick, Martin is a good bloke, none better, and he's VERY well informed and I certainly would make NO ctiticism of him or his music, except that it's not really my preference in music- Hope that's clear!

Yes rambling houses WERE the venue for music in the past & sorry I never experienced them. Good folk like Gene Sheerin in Tullaghan, Co Leitrim and Joe Corscadden in Tubbercurry are trying to revive such gatherings. The Brown Bread and Jam club run by Joe is an amazing night!

However, pubs are the main venue these days (pre-covid) and folk clubs are thin on the ground in Ireland, so the pub crowd is who you need to convince about the music- not easy, but its the real world.....