Trad folk music is dying? Au contraire! Movies like O, Brother and Songcatcher were very popular (and tho the movies may not ha e been great a lot of the music WAS), and at least in my neck of the woods, the folky type venues are doing fine. So fine, in fact, that I have to order my tickets early as they almost always sell out before the concert date.

And...if I plunk down hard cash for a concert put on by the Folk Music Society   I would be pretty pissed off if what I got was punk, or raggoe...or Beethoven, for that matter. And I'd like to see how long a modern day Benny Goodman would last, let alone   a Michael Smith or Kate Rugby, on stage at the local tavern that features hard rock bands.