"Looking back at all the different cul-de-sacs that the revival took, the thing that strikes me is how old fashioned it all sounds now"

I would agree that SOME of it sounds very old-fashioned now - because it was very much of its time in terms of instrumentation and arrangement, and even the equipment that was used to record it. But that's not the case with all of it by a long stretch. I can think of albums that were made around the time I was born that don't sound remotely dated to me.

It is a huge challenge for contemporary musicians, regardless of their genre, to make music that is "timeless". When it comes to the folk revival, I don't think that trying to sound exactly like source singers/musicians is the way forward. Folk rock albums very much sound as if they were of their time, but is that a crime? They were trying to be relevant to people of their own generation, and for the most part it's still people of that generation who listen to the music of Fairport, Steeleye etc. Were they trying to create a timeless sound? I doubt it. They were probably just trying to make music that sounded good to them. And don't forget,that what becomes unfashionable often becomes fashionable again: in 50 years' time, people may re-discover folk rock and think it is absolutely brilliant as a nostalgia music.

All of this, though, stands as a separate entity to traditional music. The most important thing is that it does the tradition no harm at all for people to do the kind of thing Jim Moray does, and for many people he brings a fresh new perspective to the music. That's to be celebrated, surely? One thing you can be certain of is that, even if his work is not to your taste, he brings a respect, knowledge and understanding of the tradition to his music. That's very much his jumping-off point.