Folks, I'm finding this to be a very helpful and relevant discussion. It's relevant to me because one of my challenges, in my involvement with the Princeton Traditional Music Festival, is to try to get some of our local musicians to learn traditional material so they can also be part of the festival.   What comes with this is the need to explain to them what is meant by 'traditional music'.

I realize that, for the purpose of the festival, there is a continuum....and it's not my purpose to be part of a 'traditional police force'.   But I do need to be able to state when it's gone beyond the 'boundary' that the festival needs to have in order to maintain it's integrity.

One old fellow, a harmonica player, says that this official version 'traditional' is bullshit. He says he heard (and played) music in mining and lumber camps as a youth and nobody ever did those songs that the academics define as traditional. No, they did the old pop and country songs.

This, plus some of the comments made here, has made me wonder whether there can be (and is) a such thing as a "living tradition".

And maybe songs like You are My Sunshine could be it.

Even though that song was credited to Jimmy Davis, there is further research that shows that Jimmy Davis actually stole the song from a much older source.

And there have been many different verses I've heard people singing.

Don't get me wrong! I'm not arguing that this song is traditional. I very much respect the knowledge that many of you are communicating in this thread.

I'm just a 'folkie' who's trying to figure it out, and to communicate it to people who don't have this understanding so they can be sensitive to maintaining the integrity of a 'traditional music' event.

Thanks for all your input.