Buzzer65,

You are right that folk music is available to all who want it, and I share your point of view that class is irrelevant in terms of who folk represents or who it can or should be associated with.

That is my opinion about what should be and how I approach it day to day.

However, it is also true that when you look at history, you can observe clearly that there have been class divides in just about every culture in just about every era.

The UK and the USA are not exceptions.

There are many folk songs which, as recorders of history, have recorded this fact.

As it is possible to observe that there has been a class divide, so it is also possible to observe what kind of trends different class divisions have followed over the ages.

I don't pretend for one second that my post above is remotely authoritative, but I do think it is a realistic and interesting hypothesis.