To me, this has nothing to do with folk music.

If someone takes a Caruso recording, edits out the orchestra, puts some sort of hip hop beat behind him and then changes the tempo of his singing to conform with the canned rhythm, that's still inappropriate.

Once again, why screw with other's work? If you're a producer of music, hire someone to sing the song the way you want it to be sung. Pay musicians to play the music you want (that's what much of pop music has been for the last 50 years anyhow.

Can you do anything with earlier recordings? - sure. Sampling them is fine, just leave the bits the way they originally were and give credit where credit is due. Cleaning up the recording to make them sound better (eliminating scratches, pops, etc.) is fine. Creating a duet ala Natalie & Nat King Cole is fine and not just because she's his daughter.

As for dead actors and musicians adertising in commercials like the John Wayne Budwieser spots several years ago, that sickens me. What gives anyone the right to decide that a dead artist would think it is ok to sell whatever product - to me this is the worst form of ad abuse possible.

pax yall