'Personally, it's why I put such an importance on distinguishing between the traditional singer and the revivalist…'
Yes, I can see where you're coming from Jim but…isn't this itself an artificial distinction? It feels to me a bit like saying that a modern Royal Naval seaman is not 'real' because he wasn't press ganged. The context has changed over time surely and the 'revival' which people keep insisting on, is now the main context. This is completely compatible with the folk dance 'traditions' in England which are not a continuum but rather a series of backward looking revivals for reasons other than 'folk' continuity. These revivals are now the received 'tradition' and many of them are spurious indeed if you're a 'purist' in these matters.