"...'contemporary' has a specific meaning in the field of what is (extremely) loosely termed 'f*lk', namely that it is recently composed of known authorship, is usually performed in strangulated fashion by callow youths playing acoustic guitars in their bedrooms and has as little relevance to traditional music as McRubbish has to food."

How very, very true, Diane, how very, very true. I really think that we should be wary about taking the 'music' of MOST "callow youths" too seriously. In my experience MOST callow youths (CYs) are merely slaves to fashion - and not much else. For example, for most of the last 35 years or so, I can guarantee that, most nights of the week, one can switch on the telly and witness a CY bellowing into a microphone whilst other CYs thrash electric guitars and bang drums in the general vicinity of the bellowing CY. Many of these 'bands' (hate that word in that context!) are proclaimed as the greatest thing since sliced doo da - but disappear without trace within a few months - to be replaced by another set of CYs - who sound exactly the same as the previous set.

Most new, contemporary, 'cutting-edge' folk bands (those that I have heard) are similar - although they are often better musicians (I will concede that much).