"No — these are *sub-categories*, all subsumed under the OVERALL GENRE of folk. "

That is what I was saying. Thanks for the clarification.

"if there is indeed a contemporary folk canon, our cohorts here at the number one folk discussion forum would pretty much have to be familiar with it."
First of all, saying Mudcat isthe number one folk discussion forum is setting a standard that the handful of people who post here are THE community that defines and understands folk.   If that is the accepted standard, then obviously I am in the wrong place and my statements are completely wrong.

The fact is, the folk community exists far beyond the confines of Mudcat. This forum is basically devoted to the "sub-categorie" of the traditional Anglo folk style - the overwhelming majority of posts deal with traditional English folk song.

If you go to the festivals, venues, read Sing Out! or Dirty Linen, or listen to the dozens of folk radio shows around the country that are actively supporting the current folk scene.   Yes, it is easy to dismss it a "nothing more than a desperate last gasp as viable entertainment", but you would be missing the REAL folk community and only trying to justify your own opinion.

The artists who are creating, and the audience that is listening ARE " 'the common, ordinary "folk' that folk music is supposed to belong to. "

Listen to the songs of the late Dave Carter, who died tragically a few years ago. His songs are being sung by others and I daresay that "Gentle Arms of Eden" or "Tanglewood Tree" belongs on the same shelf as the songs of Bob Dylan at his best. Eliza Gilkyson's songs are in the same catagory - "Man of God" or her re-working of Woody Guthrie's "Peace Call".   Steve Earle "Christmas in Washington" or just about anything else that he writes. Listen to "One Voice" by the Wailin' Jennys.

I'm not trying to say that these songs are on the tips of everyones tongue.   The music machine that create the folk revival no longer exists and you will not have commercial radio playing these songs.   At the core, folk music has ALWAYS been an esoteric listening choice. The folk error, era, was a blip on the radar that diverted attention to the styles and created its own "sub catagory".   What grew out of that time was an influence into other styles of music and collective conscious.

Folk music is NOT a dieing topic. We are not the "last generation", but hopefully the last generation that looks at music wearing blinders.