Hi Mary, yes, Pete J is the one and only Jennings from St. Neots. And I couldn't agree more about the mediocre standard some clubs accept as the norm - it's killing Bedford, for example, 3 miles from me and I choose to go the extra 16 to St. Neots or occasionally Hitchin.

But, surely traditional tunes and songs were once newly "home-penned" and somebody wrote them, and it's odds on their early material wasn't great, but they had to start somewhere in order to get better. So, if new material gets stifled, the tradition will stagnate. Moreover, a lot of "acceptable" traditional songs are about girl/boy friends leaving one another and broken hearts and some of them are downright miserable. I should know, I play some of them!

Also, jazz definitely has its own place, but a lot of folk songs could be classified as blues songs, they just don't use an obvious "12 bar" type format. And it's arguable that a lot of out-and-out blues songs started life as folk songs because before radio, etc, there were no other types of songs heard in the locality to need a distinction. They've just evolved along a different path (and not a particularly good one, when you listen to how most bands murder Robert Johnson).

As with most things, surely there's a balance to be achieved, and at the same time we should be wary about drawing arbitrary lines, or we'd have missed out on Jansch, Renbourn, John Martyn, not forgetting Woody and Bob. And me - a couple of songs I've written go down a treat with people, and I bet a lot of 'Catters who play can say the same.

Pete

PS. Look! I've missed Coronation Street now! PPS. And don't tell me that I should be playing at St. Neots cos it's Tuesday - my wife's in hospital and what with working, doing the housework, feeding the cats, and visiting twice a day, I'm knackered! See you at the festival in May if you can make it.