I have been watching this one...........pretty interesting. I would like to add two things.

Carol, no musician worth their salt would ever denigrate another persons instrument or genre. We do it in jest sometimes, but I would like to tell you that whenever I am in the presence of a good musician playing any style of instrument or music, I love watching them. I think I would find the circus music genre to be fascinating in its history and practice. Good for you.

MTed, I have experienced the folkies in the DC/Baltimore area and have never found them to be closed or clannish. They are welcoming, and they are tolerant of diverse styles. I would recommend that you not take anyone else's opinion of these folks. You never know what has transpired. I say this from personal experience here in Michigan. A person who is a friend, and a respected musician, told me about a certain group (I am being vague on purpose here)that he indicated were very snobbish, blah, blah. I avoided these folks for a long time. Turns out that there was indeed one person with a very snobby attitude, you know the type. A master on their own instrument or very accomplished in their scholarship, and scornful of everyone who isn't. But the rest of the group are wonderful people and I am very upset that I listened to my friend because I could have been making music with these folks a lot earlier. That cost me in terms of my own musical journey. I still love my friend and love playing with him. But I resolved to make my own judgements on these things. Human nature is just to fickle to do anything else. Our own Mudcat is the greatest testament to that I have ever seen. I think you would love the DC area folkies. I know I do.

All the best,

Mick