When I get references to "improving" songs, I start to get nervous and fidgity, so it seems like I am unable to totally agree with this notion. We change songs all the time, but I don't feel comfortable with the judgement call that "improvement" entails.

If we take a song and "Update it" to appeal to contemporary ears, It may not be the same song, and if it is still able to do what it once did (a far fetched notion to say the least) it is out of context, and therefore, perhaps, susceptible to fads, trends and fleeting fashions "of the day". This is not such a bad thing, supposedly, unless we insist on the concept of "lasting value" which is beyond the scope of our short lives....

I guess what I'm trying to point out is that what we write now, may, or may not become folk music down the line. And what WAS folk music, still is... though it probably was written without any self consciousness or labeling...

... and "folk music" is about content,... right? ttr