Welcome to Mudcat, Tony, glad to have someone from that beautiful countryside where you live. I used to be in the theatre, and actors were always saying that theatre was about to die, and I always argued that human beings are wired for live theatre -- it is indestructible, though a few more postmodern plays and I may give it a second thought. I think the same thing is true for folk music -- all the teenagers I know (and I teach at university) are driven by a desire for authenticity which is hopelessly confused by the commercial marketing of pseudo-authenticity to sell everything from jeans to cars. If you can break through that confusion, it all connects. They come at last alive. That is the hard part today, but corporate imitation remains the sincerest form of flattery. When the last marketer is strangled in the guts of the final demographic specialist, folk music will still be around. So I think (my 2 cents)!
yours, Peter T.