As a kid I went through some tapes my uncle had made and got exposed to Levelling The Land and Zeitgeist. It left quite an impression. I remember believing it had to be Jethro Tull because my uncle had these posters up. Several years later I went through his CDs to add to my mp3 collection and discovered the whole thing from a different perspective, being able to understand english now. They must have been quite big in the UK back in the early 90s. Today their whole political angle seems sort of quaint, but I still dig it. To me it always felt like "autumn music" and I dig the variety of instrumentation. Not just the violin, also the didgeridoo. Not many bands like that these days. Never seen them live, but it's probably too late for that.

They're still going as far as I know .

They're kind of English "Folk Punk" in the same way that Tull did a lot of English flavoured Folk Rock.

there's unique charm about those blends of genre that folks really ought to check out if they can.

A schoolmate took me to a concert of theirs in the late nineties - it is funny that your thread brings back this memory.I must admit that I like the music of the Pogues much more.

I'm sort of the other way I think.

The Irish flavoured stuff's been done to death over the years .

"Irish Flavoured" is a good term. I played the Levellers and was told to check out the Dropkick Murphys. That's not where it's at.