The Hidden Musicians. Ruth Finnegan

      The band then started up with electric guitars, pedal steel guitar, drums and vocals, with the main singer very much in the lead. The audience were free to talk, drink and walk round during the band’s playing and later on to dance – a sociable evening out. But there were also some restraints on audience behaviour, and the setting was recognised as at least partly a musical one; children were discouraged from running round noisily during the performance and the close of each song was clearly marked. The band’s playing was not just unheard background, either: the music was familiar to the audience – part of its appeal – and there was a lot of beating time and occasionally some quiet joining in with the catchy and rhythmic songs; the applause after each item was almost invariably highly enthusiastic. As the evening went on, more and more people got up to dance, adding to and developing the music through their rhythmic movements in the dance – one of the age-old modes of musical expression and appreciation. The atmosphere was relaxed and unselfconscious, and most people whatever their age, sex or build looked remarkably carefree as they danced to the band – the middle-aged woman in her tight jeans, jersey and big leather belt over her well-rounded bulges, the visiting technician and grandfather with his broken smoke-stained teeth, gleaming gun and cowboy gear, the young wife out for an evening with her husband, drawn in by his interest in country and western music and now sharing his enthusiasm – and scores of others.