CamoJohn said: "I agree, Peace. David Gray = Not folk"

Who'd argue with that? It bugs me as much as the next person that David Gray's dubious meanderings can be equated as folk just because they're vaguely acoustic and singer-songwritery.

But then what do you do with work, nay anthems, from other "johnny come latelys" (Jez Lowe's "Black Diamonds"; Billy Bragg's "Between the Wars"; any amount of current output from "world music" artists like Gilberto Gil or Youssou n'Dour; the magic riff of Eliza Carthy's "Accordion Song"; Leon Rosselson's "World turned Upside Down"; Robbie Williams' "Angels" if you want to push the extremities of the definition). These are songwriters who produce music relevant to their communities (alright, I'm not sure about Robbie, but one hell of a lot of people seem to identify with that song) and that seem likely to be sung within their communities or at least at weddings/gatherings/pub singarounds (and not necessarily limited to folk clubs) for decades to come.   Surely entry into the tradition can't be barred to anything written since 1950?