There's nothing wrong with the 1954 definition if it floats your boat.

It is irrelevant otherwise. I dare say 99.9% of people who enjoy folk music have never heard of it and would have a quiet chuckle if they read it. It describes a view, and just like Jim's dismissal of Child ballads sung for wider audience, based on subjective and arbitrary taste.

Anyway, I saw Robert Plant in concert last year. Looks like an old man to me.