Carol, you are speaking in general and I am speaking about a specific group of people. The DC area folkies are a wonderful and diverse group. They are warm and welcoming of strangers. Maybe you are trying to force your music into venues where it doesn't fit? I ask that with all respect, not in a challenging fashion. Perhaps if you gave people a bit of an intro and explained your genre to them as something that is generally not seen as a traditional art, but your scholarship has found it to be. That type of approach might work. And, of course, there are sometimes just those snobbish pricks you can't get around. But most, by a factor of 99+%, folkies that I have met would never ostracize, and would be very respectful. Especially the DC folkies that I have met.

And the general statement stands. Don't walk in with preconceived notions, you might be limiting yourself.

Mick