Ok, Mick, thatnk you..*smile*...that's all I have tried to say for years. Sometimes I said it too much like a 'purist snob', but I just wanted to have a way to identify stuff with a basic 'feel' to them.

You (and I) sing many things which are clearly not strict or traditional folk, (and the "guilty pleasures" workshop at the Getaway clearly acknowledged the differences), and 'good' songs SHOULD be done, but "Songs that should have been folk songs" ought to be a pretty tight category...that is, they need to come close to fooling us about their origins.

   Interestingly, I just listened to a recording of "Shawnee Town" done by Johnny Collins & Jim Mageean (about moving a river boat with oars & poles) which was done 'right'...with the rhythm, meter and 'feel' of the job it was written about. Compared to some of the high-speed 'bouncy' versions I have heard the last few years, it really felt good. There are many characteristics which swing a song into or out of, the 'folk' mode, and sometimes the lines are blurry, but that shouldn't keep us from looking for the lines when we want to make certain kinds of lists.


(gee....there I go again...*grin*)