I was probably the person who posted the "horse" comment that MGM Lion talked about in the original post. My purpose for posting it, with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek, as part of a list of several other equally useless definitions of "Folk Music" was to illustrate the futility of trying to define this genre of music. I first became aware of "folk" as a type of music in the late fifties and used the "horse definition" in a speech on folk music fifty some odd years ago in grade 10 (attributing it to Big Bill Broonzy).

The first time I was exposed to the "What is a folk song?" debate was in the early sixties in Sing Out! magazine and at local coffee houses and hootenannies. It is a futile, never-ending debate that has gone on far too long and certainly won't be decided on The Mudcat Café.

I did not mean to indicate that the horse definition was accurate. My favourite definition is "a four letter word that begins with F and ends with K and if you say it they won't play your music on the radio," but I don't claim it as the definitive definition either.