I reject the idea that folk music is a manufactured entity in the minds of certain people
who have a cultish view of it on Mudcat.

I see it in a larger context as music that is made for people of varying views to
participate in it. There are those of us on Mudcat who don't see folk music as
a precious museum piece or an elitist hobby.

The idea that it is a rarified form of scalp collecting for a privileged few is abhorrent to me.

It seems to me that this is an idea that is fostered in certain circles in Academia.

Folk music for me will always be a vital and flourishing aspect of music accessible
to all and an alternative to the marketing of music on a popular level.

There is maybe not a monolithic "Tradition" as you hear about in certain circles
but there is indisputably a historical significance to what we call folk music that
is distinguishable it from manufactured contemporary songwriting. There are
"traditions" (plural) which engage the vitality of this form of musical expression.

Frank Hamilton