Joel, the adjective, "knee-jerk" just about half covers it. I have spent today thinking a lot about what I mean when I use the term folk music. I suppose my brain has somehow always interconnected folk music with traditional music. This connection sits in the forefront of my thoughts regarding this particular genre of music. However, upon reflection, I see that my terminology is not backed up by what I actually include within the songs in my notebook of "folk songs". Those songs, regardless of age, are songs of the people - songs which tell the story, paint the picture, impart the emotion in a way that has a particular "feel" to them.

My notebook has songs which have been passed around from country to country for so long that nobody knows their true origin. It has songs which originated in the Old World but were rewritten in the New. There are also songs from the Great Depression; songs whose authors have only recently died. But there are also "folky-sounding" songs written or sung by much more recent artists including Paul Simon, John Phillips, Lucy Kaplansky, and Anita Silvert.

So, it becomes obvious to me that the evidence of what I collect as "folk music" does not really support what I claim to think of as folk music.

What it boils down to, Joel, is that I am offering you an apology. You have made a very generous offer of some music you have created and I have gotten in your way and have foolishly put my foot where it doesn't belong. I hope you will forgive me. I also hope you will forgive me in that I neglected to welcome you to the Mudcat. I see that you have only recently arrived and I feel all the worse for having behaved in this way. We are not all as stodgy as I have made myself to appear. I hope you will stick around. I am sure you have much to contribute.