Traditions may die or they may be altered. They can not be created on demand. One can not write a traditional song on purpose. It will, or will not, become traditional when it is wed to habit and generational repitition. Trying to create a traditional song is like trying to build an antique. I have no idea why the people on this list have a need to oblitirate definitions. Do they feel that a song is more honored if they call it traditional? Are they so disdainful of the past that they must dilute it with the present? I suspect that we need a new term for contemporary songs, accompanied by accoustic instruments. I think we should look to the French for inspriration. Those guys have had these kind of songs and singers for years (Think Brel and Montand). What did they call their singer/poets? That is, surely, the category for artists like Paxton and Dylan. If we are to be faced with a folk overlap. let it be with those who create in a concious effort toward traditional inclusion, from actual folklorists like Driftwood and MacColl to sincere recreationists like Sebastion Temple and, occasionally, Willie Nelson.

                     Mike