I wonder how much actual tradition is left in England? All the trad. song and music I hear nowadays is performed by people like me, who do it because they love it, rather than because that's what they've always done for generations. I'm no purist! I'm very eclectic in my tastes. But it seems to me that it's folk clubs and festivals that keep folk alive nowadays, rather than communities; and that Irish, Scottish and American (in all its different forms) material is just as 'valid' (however you want to define that) as one's own immediate heritage.

That's of academic interest, I suppose; if its' fun and it doesn't frighten the horses, I'm happy for us all just to go and do it, and never mind what pedants say.

Steve