Richard, my music comes more out of a North American tradition than out of a British or Irish tradition. Therefore, it might not sound like "folk" to you, as I gather that you are based in the British tradition.

I was, of course, affected by the British tradition to a considerable extent, because the North American folksingers sang a lot of the old English and Scottish (and Irish) ballads, so that influence was present as well in the music I was listening to as I grew up...but it was perhaps a bit secondary to the homegrown North American music which grew out of American, Canadian, and Mexican social experience...from the frontier, through the 1800s, the War Between the States, the War of 1812, the migration west, the cowboy era, the Mexican Revolutionary period, and so on.

North American folk music has a great deal to do with history and social struggle in the 3 great countries that make up North America. It did then, it does now.

Folk music was the only popular style of music around when I was a kid that was often overtly political. It was a movement in music that engaged in a great deal of social comment. That suited me to a "T". I use music to express philosophical and social and spiritual issues. Music is serious business to me, not just entertainment.

That's where folk music was different from the other styles, and that's why I was drawn to folk music.

Jazz - off in its own world. A head trip. A sort of technical appreciation of a certain kind of instrumental virtousity. Didn't interest me.

Classical - Beautiful stuff, but it didn't draw too much of my attention, because it wasn't contemporary enough for me. And it didn't have much to do with lyrical content.

Big Band - I detested that sound, and it the lyrical content of it seemed to me to be utterly frivolous.

Country - Emotional music. It's powerful in its own right, but I found most of it too maudlin, too simple-minded...I wanted something that would make me think, and folk music made me think. (I have lately developed more respect for some of the country music than I had as a youngster, however.)

Rock n Roll - Fun, I guess, but pretty frivolous. Great if you wanted to dance and party...I didn't. I wanted to think, comprehend, question, analyze, understand, revolutionize, change society!

Rock - Some good stuff, but mostly just an excuse for giant male egos with cucumbers stashed in their pants to gyrate around on stage and keep focused on SEXANDDRUGSANDROCKANDROLL!!!! Bloody stupid, in other words...

Pop - The endless, saccarine, homogenzized bla-bla that saturates the airwaves! The final enemy of all original thought. Mind you, there is the odd very good pop song...and it appears like a momentary gleam amongst a sea of utter dross. God save me from pop music!

Blues - Relentless stuff. The same damn riffs again, and again, and again, and again....yet it has a certain gritty honesty to it, no doubt, and there have been some wonderful blues players. The lyrics are usually pretty lamentable. I can stand about 20 minutes of well-played blues...then I get very, very bored and I go somewhere else. I have had all the blues I need for about a month after that.

Now, what music in North America offered something to really chew on, combined with lyrics that really meant something, for someone who cared deeply about politics, history, philosophy, revolutionary movements, literature, spirituality, and every deep question that has ever concerned mankind?????????

Folk music. The lyrics are the key. You can tell by the LYRICS if it's a folksong. That's my opinion. Folk music is the music of poets, ancient and modern.

The instrumentation? Well, you could sort of say that it's acoustic instrument music (usually, but doesn't absolutely have to be) and it tends not to have a drummer...because when you add a drummer you are moving more into a different kind of music...BUT...again, not necessarily. Folksongs can have drums too. It's just not so typical of them, I'd say. As time goes by, all these things change a bit.

The one thing that remains crucial is....the lyrics. Folksongs tend to be very substantial when it comes to lyrical content, and they attract people who LISTEN to the words. (and most people, I've noticed, don't really listen to the words when they listen to music).

View some videos of the Newport Folk Festival in the early 60's, observe the audience...they are listening to every word of the singer with rapt attention. They're not just there to "party", they are there to think about every kind of question that has ever lit a light in the human mind. That's folk music...for me, anyway.