Hi Grammy,

If I really was a good enough scientist I would go back over the last few hundred Mudcat threads, and trawl through numerous folk music paper publications, and count how many times phrases such as 'Folk Police' etc. have been used - and interview as many of these posters/correspondents as possible. Trouble is it would take too long, this thread would be off the board - and I can't be arsed (!)

Of course, you can try it if you like!

I think that I might find (but, of course, don't actually know until I - or you - do it!) that most of these disgruntled individuals think that existing definitions of 'Folk Music' are too narrow and should be adjusted to include their own particular favourite type of music. I think that I also might find that these people just want to assert that their favourite musical form is 'folk' but they want an 'expert'or 'authority' to justify their position for them.

Could be completely wrong, of course (it's just an hypothesis), but I suspect that I may be getting warm.