Amen to that, Dan!

They sure are. I get to listen to these people who are "non-professional", only in the fact that they do NOT make their bread and butter by singing or playing. They do it for the love of the music.

As for the names, you can take all the names out of your local phone book, and use them, as most of them will be the names of people in Atlantic Canada who make some form of music, or entertainment.

One of the reasons I like Natalie MacMaster is what she said, and still does often. Note, this is a paraphrase

 "I am NOT the best fiddler from the Maritimes, or EVEN Cape Breton. There are loads of great musicians who play only in the form of the Kitchen Party, Many of them are much better than her, but for one reason or the other, I have the drive to make it my living. But no, I am not the best fiddler." 

The people we DON'T hear enough about are the Dr. Helen Creightons, Louise Mannys, Edith Fowkes and others who go to the trouble of collecting these cultural aspects we are listening to. The people, like them and Ronnie MacEachern(another unsung singer/songwriter) who collect it because they want to preserve the culture they see out there. The bits and pieces which when reconciled form pieces of the puzzle. The collectors mentioned above are only the tips of the iceberg, just here in Canada. In the states are many many others.

At least we have some universities like Memorial who teach people about folklore, and collecting.