"The oral tradition was fascinating, but it's dead. Now we have songs that remain from that tradition"

So does that mean the tradition continues? I've always viewed the folk revival as part of the romantic movement, if it is we can sincerely view the revival as a tradition of its own with its own functioning control systems, of which arguing about romantic purity is a key theme. Which is one of the reasons why 'what is folk' type threads are both necessary and painful for participants - to maintain the theme of romantic austerity and absolute provenance in a world that doesn't value romance.