'mericans, like me, are much more likely to care less about the hard edged lines of folk/non-folk.

We not only accept the same blurred edges that our best folk musicians accept -- we revel in them. We love our Sam Bushes who play bluegrass, jazz and rock 'n' roll. We love our Tim O'Briens who play bluegrass, swing, old-timey and celtic. We love our Tony Rices who play jazz and bluegrass. We love our folk mixed well with blues. We love the best of our singer-songwriters who, like Pierce Pettis, Peter Mulvey, LJ Booth, Jack Williams, Cheryl Wheeler, et al, who aren't afraid to marry the best of rock and even pop to make a song more listenable, more interesting, more moving.

We blur our lines and we like it that way...

...but when we blur the lines here (on mudcat) there's always some folk nazi here to remind us that we just don't "get it". And it's not that we are insecure about our eclectic tastes -- we just tire of that very old discussion -- even if we accept a "provenance" as opposed to "style" view of "folk" music.