I once did "Farewell my dearest dear" to its original tune ("Frankin has fled away"), which is in 6/4. It went down about as well as you'd expect - nobody had heard it before or recognised it, not even the hardened 30- and 40-year folkies. Another time, I did the full five-verse Pleasant and Delightful (you can find it on the Yorkshire Garland site); with the extra verse (and some re-ordering) it makes much more narrative sense than the version people usually do, but of course the usual version is what everyone expects.

The point is that there are folk songs and then there are folk club songs - the songs people have been doing in folk clubs for thirty years or more. Some of them are traditional, some are in traditional idioms, some are in the post-Dylan 'folk' style, and some are just songs that people have been doing in folk clubs for a while. (I don't think there's anything at all traditional about Farewell to the Gold, for example, but I doubt there's a folk club or festival in Britain where it wouldn't go down well.)

So if somebody writes a new song that's a bit like Farewell to the Gold - or a bit like Fire and Rain - they're writing songs that would be welcome at a folk club or festival. On the other hand, somebody bringing out a traditional song that hasn't been performed in public in recent years can't count on a welcome in any folk setting.

But that's not just the way the world is. That's what's wrong with the (folk) world.