There are lots of hymns that almost everyone who's been in a church knows. They can be found in the hymnals of almost every denomination in the US & some also in England. I've seen them a called standard hymns. To me Abide with Me & What a Friend we have in Jesus are 2 of them. Others would include Rock of Ages, All Hail the Power of Jesus Name (to Coronation in the US & Diadem or Miles Lane in UK); A Mighty Fortress; the list could go on and on.

I guess to the the question would be not why is this or that hymn not considered folk, but what is it that makes a particular hymn or song folk? Amazing Grace is a folk hymn because of its roots in the southern shape note books. It is a standard hymn now, but only because singers like Jean Ritchie & Judy Collins made it so popular. (I guess the Scottish bagpipers need a little credit too) Before the hymnal revisions of the 70's & 80's it was not in Episcopal or Lutheran hymnals, it was in Methodist & Baptist, & I'm not sure about Presbyterians.

A couple of years ago I went to the 'gospel sing' at Old Songs on Sunday morning. It may have been the first year it was done. It was strange because of the difficulty of arriving at songs that everyone could join in on. We ended up doing a fair number of easy Sunday School, VBS type songs. I kept thinking if we started singing All Hail the Power of Jesus Name everyone would probably join in, but it did not seem like a folk festival type song to me so I did not suggest it.

I have also noticed there are spiritual songs that get sung as folk songs & are rarely heard in a church. (Although it may be just the ones I go to that don't do them) Some that come to mind quickly are, How can I Keep from singing, Angel Band, I'll fly Away.

As I've been writing this, I've been flipping through Sankey's 1-6 & have some observations on the folk/not folk aspect of well known spiritual songs. It seems to me there are some songs that will be done in a general folk setting & then other additional songs that will be done at a specifically gospel session of a folk event. The first group tend to be those that avoid heavy theological & especially Christological statements. All 3 I listed in last paragraph seem to fit that category. Amazing Grace is actually pretty heavy theologically, but since 'Grace' is never quite defined non-Christians may find they can internally define it how they like. I'd also expect perhaps some Negro Spirituals or really old tunes like Bitter Whithy. A gospel session would probably have more overtly Christian songs and tending toward the ones with perky choruses or that come from childhood. Many of these are not as old as we think & have roots inlate 19th & early 20th century revivals. Oh How I Love Jesus, What a friend we have in Jesus, Blessed Assurance, At the cross.

Others thoughts?

One final note. The number of hymns written is really uncounted I'd say the 100's of thousands. If some spiritual songs are really turning up as used at folk events by all means put them in the DT database. Otherwise, leave them to the hymn sites.