'Traditional songs are a part of folk. They are a small subset in fact.

Actually Musket, I hear a lot of traditional music in this part of the world and on my travels, so I'm not convinced that it is a 'small subset' and more importantly, whether you like the tradition or not, it is the roots of it all. Without the tradition, there would be no new 'folk' music, so we should at least show a respect for the tradition, and as I said earlier, for those that wish to maintain it.

John