I'm happy to argue the case for what I believe to be folk music - I don't snipe, I state what I believe to be fact based on fifty years of listening - thirty of those talking to source singers - all on record and accessible to anybody who wishes to hear what they had to say.
I watched many/most of the folk clubs empty and then disappear completely; I stopped going when "folk music" ceased to have any meaning - when many of the clubs ripped the labels of the tin; thousands like me did the same.
I'm in a situation now where I can listen to jazz, the classics, blues... whatever kind of music I wish whenever I choose because nobody is trying to sell me something else as a substitute - it is no coincidence that this is why traditional music is flourishing in Ireland - and why I believe it is not in England.
It hasn't stopped anybody else from listening to what they wish to listen to, it means we know where we stand.
Ireland is now guarranteed a traditional music that will last for at least another two generations with youngsters hammering on the door to come in.
If anybody can tell me that this is the situation in the UK, then I apologise to all and withdraw all my criticisms - but that is not the picture I get.
I don't condemn the music or tastes of others - that would be subjective and arrogant. Nobody I've ever met involved in traditional music has ever told people what they should be listening to in my experience - but there a hell of a people who obviously don't like traditional music doing exactly that on threads like this, and it's people like them who squeal "folk police" the loudest whenever an opinion that contradicts their own is put forward.
As far as definition is concerned, John P put it in a nutshell "The question is, what happened next?" - that's probably as concise a definition as you will ever get.
There is a pretty clear, well researched and extensively documented definition of folk music, and, as I said before, unless somebody comes up with an alternative, that's that one which will survive.
Jim Carroll