We all know perfectly well what Pip Ives meant...

Hmmm, he was asking a question. I was giving him one answer. He'll get as many different opinions as there are Mudcatters.

But yes tradition implies continuity.

One such continuity would be, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Bill Hailey, Elvis and so on.

Another would start with Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams and progress through Slim Whitman, Johnnie Cash etc..

And of course Jimmie Rodgers borrowed from the same folks who started the blues and Jazz.

It's kinda like a big tree. There isn't a specific branch or twig that you can point to and say "traditional" ended there.