As you've undoubtedly noticed, we've had some (as the TV folk say) technical difficulties.We lost a week's worth of threads--if anyone has been keeping copies, it would be great if they could be re-posted--and it's been impossible to create new ones. That part, at least, seems to have been fixed (as witness THIS new thread.) We're very sorry about the inconvenience. One of the lost threads dealt with our new sponsor, Camsco music (that's the red logo that appears on the database search page. We think it's an important thread, so I'll paraphrase it here: PLEASE read on.

As you can well realize, the income that Mudcat and the Digital Tradition can realize by giving everything away is severely limited (you could say non-existent). On the other hand, it costs to maintain a website. Worse, both Max Spiegel, Mudcat's bartender and webmeister, and dick greenhaus, the DT's curator, are self-employed. Which means that the time taken to maintain and improve this site is taken away from the time required to earn money for things like food and mortgage payments. We're hoping that a limited number of worthwhile sponsors will enable us to spend more time on what you-all seem to think is a worthwhile project. Camsco Music is most definitely a worthwhile sponsor. Camsco Music has a pretty unique focus. It specializes in traditional music. Camsco offers recordings from some of the larger labels like Rounder, Yazoo, Arhoolie and Green Linnet; Camsco also carries hard to find recordings from the UK on the Veteran and WildGoose labels, Canadian recordings on Singsong, American old time music on Marimac and quite a few other smaller labels. What makes Camsco different is that the company distributes music of artists who independently produce their own cassettes and compact discs. The recordings all come from performers who are firmly rooted in traditional music. And, in most instances, until the advent of Camsco, these recordings were only available at performances. The singers and musicians had no other distribution methods. So if you're looking for independently produced recordings by the Deseret String Band from Salt Lake City, the Copper Family from Rottingdean, England; Andy Cohen of Memphis, Ian Robb from Ottawa, Phil Cooper and Margaret Nelson from Chicago, Jim and Kim Lansford from Missouri, Helen Schneyer or Margaret MacArthur from Vermont, or more than a hundred others, take a look at the Camsco Music website. Wally Macnow, the founder of the.company, has been involved with traditional music in America for quite a while. He has been performing since 1958 and was an original member of Rock Creek, the a capella trio, from 1977 to 1986, He's also been on the boards of Pinewoods Folk Music Club in New York City, the Folk Song Society of Greater Washington, the Baltimore Folk Music Society, the Country Dance and Song Society of America, and numerous folk festivals. He also was heavily involved with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in its formative years. By the way, Camsco Music donates 3% of all sale profits to organizations dedicated to the preservation and presentation of traditional music.

To which I can add that Wally is knowledgable, helpful and generally good people to deal with. Patronizing Camsco will help Camsco, Mudcat, the DT, folkmusic in general, and you.