I haven't bought any of his music since the 70's, but I have listened to the odd bit here and there.

I like my mediæval influenced music to have some pretense to authenticity, though I did listen to a band called Gryphon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gryphon)*in my youth. The stuff I heard from Blackmore about two or three years ago seemed a bit of a halfway house. I shall have to search out his new stuff.

*Richard Harvey is a bit of a genius.