I am absolutely in favor of the folk process; I vote we keep it!! :>)

Malcolm, your dissertation is worthy and full of merit. When I make humorous remarks, saying, "Yes, but what IS folk, really" here and there, it is to get a rise outta Spaw and also, indirectly, to make a point. When you transition from learning and playing songs from the sheer joy of it, and branch into studying their transitions and etymology and chronology, you are shifting hats. Not that you can't wear both, but only one is a "folk singer" hat -- the other is an academic hat. It is not folk music but "about" folk music, which is very different indeed.

As in all things, de gustibus non disputandum and also Chacun a son mauvais gout.

Best regards,

A.