Oh I forgot to answer the second half of your question. Some tradtitional "Folkies" are some are not. Bawn is gettin acceptance because they can be as traditional as anybody. They are all top notch musicians. Bonepony is as well because they are (or were) very traditionally based. Shack Shakers uhm lol they are harder for the trads to grasp. If they are jamming traditional then yes but they are all about some rebellion and energy. Col. JD the lead singer was a staple at most folk festivals until his band took off. Now he is on the road all the time and hardly ever comes around. He is an incredible harmonica player and a great writer.
For some reason this area has become a breeding ground for hippies. I don't mean that term bad at all. You have an extreme counter culture here. People think hicks and hillbillies alot of times when they think of Kentucky but we have a huge population of hippies.They are a big part of the acoutsic music scene. There are all kinds of non-advertised music festivals and clubs around here. Also Louisville and Lexington Kentucky are a huge part of the acoustic music scene. New Grass revival was from Lexington and the scene continued to evolve from there and is now unreal. Louisville has a big Punk scene and all this stuff has meshed jam band/punk/bluegrss/folk and there is some really cool things coming out of it. Acoustically there is something for everyone around here right now. If you want tradtitional or very cutting edge it's not hard to find. The people for the most part are open minded good music is good music. The main thing is they are wanting it acoustic or acoustic based.