I find it quite weird that there are Mudcatters out there who regard the ability to read musical notation as being something detrimental to 'Folk Song '.

Most of the songs I have in my repertoire were recorded in musical notation.In the days before the wax cylinder was invented the only way possible for transference to a future generation was using this method. Cecil Sharp, Lucy Broadwood, Percy Merrick, Hammond and Gardiner et al would not have had access to the modern technology that Percy Grainger had. They saw the need to use musical notation to let future generations know what they had heard.

For the record: if I was unable to read music I would not have had the majority of my repertoire. There are some people out there have started singing those songs since I resurrected them from the 'dots'. Is there any harm in that?

So why criticise Jim for being musically educated? We all gain. No-one loses.