I read your description of the styles used, Dick, and even though I had to use Google to understand some of it, it did make sense. Not sure what you are trying to achieve by pasting random song texts here though :-S

To all and sundry.

We have to accept that all songs were written and/or arranged by someone. They did not spring out of thin air. The difference between folk and commercial songs is that, in the commercial world, someone makes money out them. We have seen, on many occasions, that the two worlds collide and a folk song starts to have some commercial sucess. Think Paul Simon and Scarborough Fair here. We also have commercial songs, IE those that were copyrighted with the specific intent of making money for the composer, that have become accepted as folk songs. The example here could well be Dirty Old Town but there are many more to chose from if that offends anyone!

We must accept therefore that there is an element of crossover and so there should be. I spent ages this morning trying to figure out where all this was leading me and concluded that, for me anyway, it seems to boil down to commercialism. To be in the folk camp means that it cannot be commercial. This, in my mind anyway, covers a lot of what has been discussed about copyright. Even songs within copyright are not making money if they are sung at folk clubs. Well, not yet anyway! So I think copyright is a red herring.

The next thing is what is acceptable to the audience at a folk club and that is where Dick's analysis comes in. There is a certain cadence to the music enjoyed at folk clubs. This combines with the lyrics to make only certain songs enjoyable for most of the audience. I am not saying everyone at a folk club will like all the songs but, chances are, a high proportion of them will enjoy a large percentage of the songs.

In a nutshell, I agree that there are no contemporary folk songs as such but there are many contemporary songs that are enjoyed at folk clubs. However, to most people such a distinction is purely academic so the shorthand "contemporary folk" will continue to be used. Songs within copyright will continue to be sung at folk clubs and no one is going to come and break legs for doing that. New songs will be written and introduced in folk clubs and if they go commercial, good luck to them. I doubt it any of the authors will say you can no longer sing them for free.

It is a complex and interesting topic with no right or wrong answers. Thanks to all who have contributed so far.