I like to think of "Folk Music" as the stuff that ordinary people (or folk) are singing out there. I know it's probably a very loose definition but it suits me.

Max has just bought himself (when Max buys something for himself, it usually tuns out to be for us) a minidisc recorder and is out there looking to record what is being sung NOW. So if he turns up at you place; sing for him!!

If a song is only sung by it's originator then I don't see how it can be classed as folk, no matter how folky it sounds. Whatever your definition, precise or sloppy, folk IS plural; and the most minimal definition must allow for it being 'sung by folk'.

Of course, just because a song is new it doesn't mean that folksingers shouldn't sing it. In fact folksingers have a duty to sing the songs that they like, so that the best of today's songs will be preserved for future generations.

That is the job that DT and Mudcat are doing. Preserving what people are singing.

So, Joely and all you songwriters out there, keep singing your songs, maybe some of them will survive.

Bert. (Who shamelessly plugs his own songs at every opportunity)