Natalie MacMaster is only 23 (first recording at 16)and Ashley MacIsaac not much older. There is also another band from Cape Breton Island, Slante something or other,(relatives of the Barra MacNeils) where I believe they are just graduating from high school. PEI fiddler Richard Wood is about 20 or 21. The Ennis Sisters from Newfoundland are in their late teens or early twenties. Mary Jane Lamond, a Canadian who sings in gaelic, is in her twenties. The guys in GBS can't be over thirty. In fact, if I thought about it long enough I could probably come up with a long list of Canadian folkies under thirty.

Part of the problem might be the cultural thing. In places like Cape Breton and Newfoundland, people actually play and sing this music at home for their own amusement, so the kids pick it up. Plus their festivals and dances are decidedly family affairs ,often much to my curmudgeonly chagrin.