To be honest, I wouldn't be offended by the term 'Old School'. To me, it means somebody who hasn't won a career on a TV show, but has gone out there and done the footwork; who knows the job and gets on with it. An 'Old School Folk Singer' would be somebody who has got established by doing the floorspots, and who gets up in a room with 30 people and sings/plays unamplified. Someone who doesn't hasn't got an agent. And you don't have to be singing Trad to qualify. I'd call Jack Hudson 'Old School'. And I reckon there are some young 'Old School' performers out there. I know Al wouldn't agree with some of what I say, but I'd say he was 'Old School". There's nowt wrong wi' it. Pity there isn't more of it.
If there is something called 'New School' folk music, I would include Mumford and Sons (as somebody has already mentioned them). For years I've been growling about the modern use of terms like 'R&B" and "Soul", to describe music which seems to have bugger all to do with the music of - for example - B B King or Wilson Pickett. And 'Rock 'n' Roll' has long since ceased to mean anything. The word 'Folk' seems to be being used in the same way. We are being taken over by the Entertainment Industry. They have never known what folk music was. Their definition was always "with drums, it's Pop; without drums, it's Folk". To them it's just a label.
Discuss. I'm off before the war starts.
John Kelly. Old School Folk Singer.