An opinion, strongly expressed, from another thread on a completely different subject:

A sausage has got meat in in it. So do not call something with no meat in it a sausage. It's bad enough that you make it look like a sausage without you adding insult to injury by calling it a sausage. Do your own misguided thing, eat what you like, but do not call a non-sausage a sausage. And I know not what tofu is and I never will.

Now just transpose "folk club", "folk song", "folk music", "folk night" as representing what the author of the above thinks a "real sausage" is and you basically get what Jim Carroll has been trying very hard to get across to people on this thread.

Just out of interest I'll be attending a festival this coming week-end that specifically advertises itself as a "folk" festival. Over the course of the week-end I am going to take note of what is performed on stage and what is sung/played in the sessions - If this thread is still running I'll get back to you all a week from today.