"But I don't think thats right, its more akin to those who follow classical music deciding to introduce a bit of Schoenberg"
Would be nice to think so, but gave up that idea when I found myself leaving folk club after folk club in Britain without ever hearing a song remotely resembling folk
I've had enough arguments on this forum where I've been told that folk ain't folk any more but now includes anything people choose to call "folk"
I was attracted by the comment here quoting the American Scene describing the old English folk songs as in need of modernising, and I still get a bit of giggle about the American "Traditional" Folk Festival that has a policy of only booking guests that "write their own stuff".
Not so long ago someone produced a horrific ad from a University folk song course in England saying that its study course would commence with (some modern pop group whose name totally escapes me (tbtG)
"who have to give everything a label."
Labels are so we know what's in the bottle when we but it - without them, we could well be swigging cyanide
"that is not acurate"
It most certainly is
Wall to wall traditional music programmes on the radio and television, two of the finest traditional music archives in the world, year round - music festivals and schools, thousands of kids playing like maestros - a respect for Irish traditional music throughout the world, applications for research and performance grants as easy as pushing on an open door (up to the Bankers shenanigans having naused up the economy)
Beats the old "diddly-di music" image that we encountered when we fist started recording over here.
You may not have it in your corner of the country, but please don't denigrate the the progress that has been made elsewhere
Jim Carroll