I associate the term "folk music" with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and those who followed in their footsteps. In the US, the full term would be "American folk music," but since we are in America we leave off the first word and let context indicate that we are speaking about the US. If we specify "Irish folk music" or "African folk music," then we know we are discussing those countries. It's the same as Italians calling the sport that created the Superbowl "Football Americano" and US citizens just calling it football.

If you want to be a Jack Elliot or a Bob Dylan CD in the US, you go to the "folk" section. Next to it will often be "world music," which is sometimes called "International folk" or something of the like.

I am not defending the use/misuse of the term "folk music," I'm just explaining the context. I call myself a folksinger because I play guitar and sing songs like Woody Guthrie and Arlo Guthrie, and Peter, Paul & Mary.

Russ