People play certain kinds of music because they like it or - if they make a living playing music - they can make a living playing it. Music has always been a business as well as a pastime, and there always have been musicians taking up foreign styles or instruments.

In our modern world many people would see a lot of it more as a style than a tradition - this especially applies to styles of music that have developed over the time and are quite different from their beginnings - like modern electric blues compared to acoustic delta blues.

Rock and Pop music has developed out of various musical influences, such as blues, various folk etc. - what about this? Should this "mongrel"-music be the only music that everyone is allowed to play?
And are we are opening the next step now after the endless discussiona about what is accepted as "traditional"? ;0)
What is better: a pue-blooded musician playing a free interpretation of a piece of music or someone with an entirely different background who plays it so the purists are satisfied? This discussion could go boldly where no discussions have been before... (where`s Shatner, by the way?)

And Greg: don`t generalize, "Pick a bale of cotton" or "Black Betty" are just 2 songs - not a whole genre. If she feels that it is not p.c. to sing those songs she is entitled to her opinion, you don`t have to share it.