Folk song is like every other artistic endeavour - you have to work at it to understand it and you have to understand it to like it - it is not superficial - good things never are

There are lots of things that I like that I never have had to work at. Including some, but not all, traditional singing. If you have to work at it to understand it and understand it to enjoy it then 95% of the population would never get round to enjoying it. Most people want their pleasures handed to them on a plate. How on earth can it be the music of the people of it takes academic effort to appreciate it?