Forget definitions man. Definitions are for people who aren't playing enough. If you think the people on here are confused what do you think about the crowds out there that are clueless as to what folk is. We can't even agree on here and we all have a love for folk music. I played a rock festival a few wks ago. I played an all out rock set with electric distorted guitars, bass, drums very fast punk influenced (ask Bankley he was there with me). Since then I have had all kinds of people telling me how much they dug the "Folk" set that I did. I bet noone at any of the gigs I have played in the past yr has a clue about the 50's definition and even less care. Play what comes from your soul. I could care less about definitions. Most people don't know the difference between a song that sounds old and a song that is old. Old in modern music is something that was released a month ago. I love folk music and have spent over half of my life learning songs, styles, stories behind the music, and so on. I love it but man when I play out I am always approached by tons of people that think I wrote the songs. I do mix my originals in and always point out what are trad and what are mine. In the end the crowd doesn't differentiate between mine and the trad songs. It means IMHO that they like the music but don't care if they are original or trad.
Once again just my opinion
cya
JT