Ron,

Enjoyed your reply.

The devil (not the caf) made me do it.

If I may reply respectfully to some of your points....

"IF the reason traditional musicians are not being booked for festivals is because of singer-songwriters, it stands to reason that the discussion would try to examine why that is happening."

That's exactly what I did in my first post, which was ignored.
(Which is not unusual. Spaw, one of the few catters who paid any attention to my posts, seems to have disappeared. Not that his attention was always welcome.)
In my first post I tried to do two things.
1. let the posters in this thread know that if they cannot find "traditional" music, they're not looking very hard.
2. Sketch an explanation why they cannot find it in the places they have looked by saying some vague things about the dynamics of "big" festivals.

"If the people you know "who care most about traditional music" (are you insinuating that the rest of us don't care that much???) don't bother to attend festivals that don't feature traditional music, then perhaps you creating a very isolated and unfriendly scene. Instead of welcoming and trying to perpetuate, the music gets played in a vacuum."

Yes, that's what I was insinuating. But I felt that insinuation was an improvement over the first draft of my post where I just flat out said it. But what else should I conclude? I spend my entire summer listening to and playing with traditional musicians and I only attend a fraction of the festivals which feature them. There's so much more in the world of festivals than the Philly Folk Fest and Old Songs.

Also, your response sounds like a "blame the victim" explanation to me.
Festival A features traditional musicians. Festival B features singer-songwriters. I vote with my dollars and choose festival A.
If I (and all my fellow attendees at festival A) am guilty of creating a "very isolated and unfriendly scene" well golly so are all the attendees at festival B. We are all guilty, guilty, guilty.... of acting in accordance with our personal preferences. On my guiltometer that doesn't even register.

Should I try to get festival B to include more traditional musicians? Been there. Turns out the people who run festival B are just as enthusiastic about and committed to their performers as the people who run festival A. It ain't broke. Why would they want to fix it? Who in their right mind would want to listen to an old man playing solo fiddle anyway?

Re-defining traditional music?
That's a whole 'nother thread.

"Is it right to ignore the living tradition facet of folk music?"
Of course.
When I listen to NPR instead of the other available radio drek,
when I buy a Jean Ritchie CD instead of one by Britney Spears,
when I shop at my local farmers' market instead of the local instantiation of a mega-chain
I am "ignoring" the alternatives. Once again this doesn't register on my guilt radar.

"But to deny that singer-songwriters exist and that there is an audience that enjoys that type of music is really looking at the issue with blinders on."

I didn't deny the existence of anything or anybody. I have no theoretical/conceptual/philosophical/moral/ethical/whatever problems with singer-songwriters. Some of my best friends are singer-songwriters. Some of my best friends attend their concerts and buy their CDs. May all of them live long and prosper. I have even seen my fair share of singer-songwriters.

But with (very) finite discretionary income and free time I must pick and choose.

Russ (still the GUEST after all these years)