The reality is that anything goes in a Folk Club, or a Folk Festival, or even a Folk CD / CD-R. If people can play it or sing it, then bet your arse that they generally do."

You have argued against the 1954 'definition' (really just a description of the some of the processes by which 'folk' music has evolved historically) because you feel it is out of date and too restrictive. Fine, you're hardly the first person to prefer a more inclusive interpretation of folk/vernacular music (see the work of Archie Green, Norm Cohen and plenty of others). But for a term to have any value, it has to have some boundaries. What, if anything, would not fit your open-ended definition of Folk? If some of my buddies and I showed up at your club with electric instruments and performed Slayer's 'Reign in Blood' in its entirety, would that be Folk Music?