Having read through this very interesting thread forces me to attempt to say several things. One is I purposefully avoided the thread for a while because I did not expect the depth of discussion that has evolved.

Second, here in a town of less than 3000 people, 100 miles from a real city, there are increasing numbers of young people becoming involved in playing the traditional music associated with the area. Many of these youth are encouraged by their families, some home schooled, and are moving to Mountain View, Arkansas because of the focus on music. Many of these young people are very good musicians and becoming better singers and are playing the music with some ingenuity so the tunes do not always come out the same as two or more generations ago.

Third, I was involved for over 30 years with the Ozark Folk Center, a state park focusing on the historic cultural traditions of rural mountain people. Visitors to the park were typically 55 or over and when attendance began to decline upper management assumed that it was due to people being drawn to the park because it reminded them of former times and those people were dying out. I reminded them that the folk music era of the 1960s was focused on, and fueled by, young people in major cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc. who were not stirred by previous experiences or fond memories. I do not believe that nostalgia plays a significant role in creating or supporting an interest in folk music. While the songs and the tales they tell may be old they strike a chord of relevance in some people. Musicians will sometimes indicate they are preserving something they perceive to be of cultural value. That is, generally, a lie because they do not understand, themselves, why they are drawn to something outside the mainstream.

The trick is understanding this relevance and this thread has been useful attempt in this regard.