steve shaw,
when i go to trad music sessions, like all the other people there we play trad instrumental music, there are so many good tunes to play that nobody wants to plays yellow submarine, it is not about being elitist its about knowing what we have gone to play.
people can play yellow submarine plenty of other places ,they can play tiptoe through the tulips in plenty of places.
if you want to play that stuff in a listening club environment go and start your own acoustic music club.
people who have not practised have driven more people out of folk clubs in my opinion than anything else, no one minds beginners who show improvement, it is this idea that it is acceptable to continue to insult audiences by not bothering to have practised material, and that audiences are happy to listen to anything in a folk club.
if you want to play buddy holly, fine go and start an acoustic music club or a rock and roll club.