"The working class invents music and the middle class takes responsibility for making sure it doesn't slip into obscurity"

Yeah, I think that's fair comment Lox, except I'd replace 'takes' with 'took' (as in the collectors).

As I said earlier, I don't know what others ground floor experiences are, but mine suggest that there is a high percentage of working class folk engaged in the making of folk music - though there has been a generational drop off in *both* middle class and working class participation of ground floor folk music making.