Depends on the folksinger: I'd argue that say, Gordon Lightfoot, is as fine a singer as you'll find just about anywhere and Nancy Griffith ain't bad.

Well, I'd disagree on one point, which perhaps I didn't articulate very well the first time: The person who called the tune (presumably the one singing it if has words) gets to have a considerable degree of say over the sound of the tune, when your turn comes, then you get a degree of say.

Right, but I'm sure you'll admit that a Scruggs-style banjo break laid down in the middle of (let's use Dixieland for a moment) "Muskrat Ramble" would sound out-of-place and nobody would be out of place wagging a finger or saying a word about it. Ditto for bringing along yer trombone and expecting a welcome to have a turn at "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." I know better than to bring my pedal steel, amp and seat to a bluegrbutt jam (Nope, I'll play the Dobro there), to a blues jam I'll bring both, and to a Dixieland jam I'd have no choice but to bring the steel and hope someone would take me at my word that I could actually make it fit (I probably could, but I've never tried). In order to deviate from the norm in a positive way, it helps to know something about the norm, the way it works, and why those conventions and standards are the way they are.

Yessir, Sheikh Yerbouti.

-- Lane Gray And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Gen 2:25 remove the .lead from my address