Mudcatters have never been able to agree on "what is folk music," and I think it's a good bet that Mudcatters (or anyone else) will be unable to agree on "what is American Traditional Music" or any other "genre" within music.

Yes, one can be descriptive and scholarly. Yes, one can rely on one's ear to guide personal preferences. One can take two songs of extremely wide variance and show how they are different enough to belong in two "different' categories. One can specialize in a form, time period, artist, etc. The problem is, these approaches only work for one, because music transcends our words, our preferences, and our categorization.... it escapes from any boundaries we try to hedge it into, and that escape is accelerated whenever more than "one" try to share the yard.

So any forum for any sort of music is going to be challenged-- by the very nature of music-- to maintain itself without soon becoming as rigid as religious fundamentalists. Eeeewww-- I wouldn't want to be there for long! And I sure wouldn't want anyone I like to be the poor moderator!

~Susan