Dear Bert,
I think the singer/songwriter stuff and the trad can co-exist. I am firmly in the trad oriented camp, but know many contemporary songs that really knock the proverbial socks off. At the Folk Alliance,I think there is way too much us vs.them mentality. We probaby get more requests to do Huw William's Rosemary's Sister than we get to sing Lang a growing, so the audience does not care as much as some of us performers. I tend to like newer songs that act like they have a nodding aquaintance with traditional songs. I'd like to see more cooperation between the two facets of the folk world. Thanks, Phil