Ah but Jim. he can write a song and say it is a hit but it might not be. He can call it a folk song and it is, on the basis of him saying it is alone. Nobody owns the genre, and this thread amongst others proves why.

It is a broad church.. A c17 ballad of someone having lover's balls for the wife of someone else is close to many "pop" songs whilst a song written two weeks ago by me giving an account of the division in society at this particular time is folk. By one definition. By another, it may well be the other way round.

Reminds me of the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham saying the English don't appreciate music, but they love the noise it makes.