You pose an interesting question Bruce. Any consensus on the thread seems to say to me that traditions live on but traditions change. If you were to ask for a definition of "traditional music" you could start a Mudcat argument lasting forever and some threads have already done that. I consider myself to be a traditional singer, at least at times, but most of my tradition is relatively recent stuff written during the past 100 years. When I was a young gaffer the pop charts were alive with Elvis and Brenda, both from traditional country roots, but musically much more modern. Compared to the pop charts of today they are considered "country" and their music was to me much more traditional than what is called country today. The more things change the more they stay the same.