I agree with you, Ian. It's about the stories, or at least it is to me. I fell in love with "folk music" in the first place because the songs told stories that offered more substance than the music of the Top Ten. I'm not too concerned about whether the songs that have influenced me meet the narrow academic definition of folks songs or whether they are simply played in a traditional musical style. The point is whether the song moves you, makes you think, makes you feel something. It can be an anonymous traditional ballad from Appalachia or a newly-penned song by Guy Clark.

When I write songs with my wife Kate, I try to tell a story about something that I know. I've had no luck writing songs about things that I haven't experienced. I may exaggerate, change things around, but at some level I've experienced what I'm singing about. We also try to fit the lyrics to the mood of the story or to the images that I'm using. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the tune comes fist. Sometimes I hear something, see something, feel something and it gnaws at me until I write it down. There is no premeditated attempt to write a folk song beyond the fact that I play in an acoustic, traditional style. I'm not going to write a rock song because I don't play rock music.

However, a lot of contemporary folk music is influenced by rock music or other modern styles. There's simply no way for it not to happen. Most younger writers have grown up with an eclectic mix of influences. Many people that I know who call themselves folk song-writers cite influences such as Uncle Tupelo, Billy Bragg, and the Pogues along with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Hazel Dickens and other folk heroes. They first encountered folk music from this odd angle, and then sought out the original sources, the old recordings, and started exploring the traditions. All of this influences the writing.

Now there are newer songs out there that I have encountered that seem to be "entering the tradition." People sing along, know all the words, and have no idea who wrote it, and frankly don't care. John Prine's "Paradise" is one such song. I have heard more people sing it at picnics, parties, and sing-alongs without having any idea that Prine wrote it. I would love to have a song of mine have the same effect.