Thank You John! I appreciate your points as they are so well founded in/with logical historical evidence. You've been doing your homework, and I think you enjoyed every minute of it!

I will hasten to point out here, that folk music does not live in a vacuum. Music must appeal to the cultural tastes of the audiences of the day. Picture a Steleye Span-esque fusion of trad and rap.

I would also like to point out that the consumer culture we live in carries it's own latent cynicism, which implies that people are always looking for alternatives to the mainstream. I would also say that the mainstream media is not taken all that seriously, ie, it has become a medium that invites put-downs and is a distraction mechanism fostering negative attention.

This is where folk music strolls by with it's honesty and sauntering simplicity. Also, trad makes the scene with the stark and awesome beauty of hours and centuries of honing.

I think I'm going to have to say here that it is also true that trad and folk are related, but not the same... am I right?

ttr