"I'd also add that if I fancy going to see a film, for instance, I won't just turn up knowing nothing about it, "
You's be pretty pissed off if you turned up to find they'd advertised a film - no matter what - only to find they'd edcided tp put on a Salvation Army concert.
Your definitions
1 Nobody is asking for anything adhering to '54 - one of those dishonest red herrings put up by the 'Mickey Mouse' crowd.
2 The music industry market what they sell to please the shareholders - they neither know nor care what they call what they as long as they can hang a price tag on it.
We set up the folk clubs to get away from the garbage they were putting out - you would have us crawl back and say "sorry for being so ambitious and disloyal"
3.   "cover versions, new songs, opera arias or what ever else floats the boat of the participants" - says it all for me and siums up what this is all about - the right to choose what you listen to.
None of them are generally accepted definitions - not even by th revival - but feel free to hoist them up the flag......
JohnC
I can remember MacColl's excitement at being given a text copy of 'Sheath and Knife' by Bob Thomson, and I can still remember the first time he sang it in public and the stunning effect it had on the audience - still brings a lump....
Apart from Ewan's recording, Gordeanna MacCulloch and Terry Yarnell both manage to bring a powerful, centuries-old ballads to life for me.
Jim Carroll