I couldn't find it just now but the other day I read on the AFF website that this year's guest artist (Griffith) was booked under a slightly different rationale. For one thing, it was she who indicated an interest in being the headliner.

She is also not a seminal musician- as specified in the criteria- and she is definitely commercialized, also abjured. (See Guest Criteria on the website.)

I don't have an actual problem with booking the occasional guest artist anomoly. Many people like Nanci Griffith very much and have been fans of hers for a long time.

The way I figure it is that we all resonate to different performers and styles; sometimes I am agog over someone's music and sometimes I'm not, and there will always be many in the audience who are polar opposites to me. That's fine.