Well, gents, I've missed most of the posts except the last few, but how does this strike you--Hymns were and are folk music, the folk music of the Christians, and in particular many US genres of more recent hymnody such as southern gospel, older praise choruses, contemporary praise choruses (ALL sappy!!!)
AND
although many connoisseurs (sp???) adore their sap served up via electric git-tar and drums, etc., we have a weekly service where we actually do ours the old-fashioned way: including banjo!
And I am no Biblical expert, but I believe one could say that the book of Psalms was an early DigiTrad, going from the Judaic heritage and early Christian church right up into now with many of the praise choruses being taken right outta there... adaptations (improvements??!!!) running rampant
So everyone, hug a Christian folkie today, even if they don't know they are one...
What about cantors in synagogue, wouldn't that also be included...