Fine discussion. All definitions break down. Woody Guthrie was a singer-songwriter. There was once a fine music festival in NC called Fiddler's Grove. It was set up as a contest, so that all the musicians on stage were competing for something (I think it was a plaque or such as that). If anybody got on stage with something as exotic as a mandola or a pennywhistle, their chances of placing, much less winning, dropped to zero. If there was any appreciable difference between what you played and the way Gid Tanner or Charlie Poole did it, it just didn't fit the management's idea of traditional. The wierd thing is that, in their time, Tanner and Poole were very innovative, incorporating all sorts of influences into their music. (Listen to Charlie Poole and his NC Ramblers records from the 20's/30's. There's just as much jazz as there is Appalachian Scotch/Irish in their music.) I agree that we should all have a place to go where they feel comfortable. The problem and ugliness comes in when you have to decide who not to let in.

Dedicated to open-mindedness, Chet W.