I looked in Lloyd again. Referring to the 14th century, when, he says, the break up of manors led to minstrels having to get a living from the peasantry, he says

'...from this synthesis of peasant and minstrel, amateur and professional, private and public entertainment grew the kind of song that remained dominant in the lower-class repertory for the next five hundred years, in short folk song as we most readily recognise it today.'

I am not going to get involved in more 'origins' discussions. This isn't why I dug out this quotation, but if (big if) what Lloyd says is right, music made for payment is deep at the heart of what he defines as 'folk song'.

Jim: I am fully aware of MacCarthyism, thank you. My parents were fans of Paul Robeson, who was one of its victims, so I learned about it as a young child.