That is interesting Bill. I had the same reaction to the list. I figured too that Hartford being in the most played list was because of his death, O Brother because of it's popularity among the general non-folk music audience, and the Dolly Parton albums because she is currently a cause celebre in the folk world because of her recent "back to her roots" efforts.

Outside of those three, there wasn't much of anything at all receiving a lot of airplay on folk radio in 2001, was there? And we wonder why things are SOOOO bad for folk music?

But, I also believe that most of the airplay for folk/traditional music has moved away from the Anglo/Celtic, and into what is often referred to as roots and world music traditions. Which can mean anything from disco music from Japan to (yawn) another round of gamelan.