Hi Anahata

I've never taken in to consideration the fact that JT's vibrato could be the result of the wax cylinder "wobble" - I have heard the John Locke's Polka as well and I see what you mean. Later source recordings on 78 also show the singers using a fast vibrato though - so I would like to think it's a bit of both (I take on board Mary's point about the ornaments too) - it would be funny if the stylistic vibrato of revival folk singing was a product of the way it was recorded.

On your other point - I think the media are constantly looking for the "latest thing", and "innovation" in order to sell their spin on the scene. When they do this with every act who has a bit of success they are obviously going to be proved wrong on most occasions - no genre of music can have a truly ground-breaking artist every 6 months - it is just hype and I ignore it. We're lucky on the folk scene that nearly all of us are knowledgeable about the music and will make our own minds up.

My only defence for the hype being put out about Jim is that it will give him a chance of being heard by people not "on the scene" because the wider music business is full of that kind of nonsense and you have to shout really loud to get heard and get even a chance of radio play on more mainstream programmes. We've done a bit of that too with our album (although not to the same extent) - I think it boils down to the fact that if you are in the business of selling records you have to play the game no matter how silly you think it is, or you retain your integrity and get no further than the folk market - which as I've said before is less swayed by hype or actively dislikes it. It is clear that Jim and his management company have decided on the former and good luck to them.

Cheers

John S