Excellent thread and good to hear the differing opinions (with the exception of MTed who obviously has his head so far up a certain portion of his anatomy that his post had to be a skilful example of touch-typing,)

For me, I guess my first hearing of any kind of "folk music" was going to a Ken Colyer concert in the early fifties and hearing the Ken Colyer Skiffle Group. My musical path was then Lonnie Donegan – skiffle - Woodie Guthrie – Jimmy Rodgers – Carter Family – Bluegrass – Hank Williams. At this point things moved equally along several paths. Folk club (The Howff in Edinburgh) – Scottish folk music; Country – back to bluegrass – Old Time Music – Scottish/English/Irish folk music. Traditional Jazz.
Somewhere through this I learnt to play double bass then guitar and along with the music mentioned above, played pop of the time (more paying gigs).

I think more folks than care to admit it owe their interest in folk music to Lonnie and without Traditional Jazz, he would not have had the exposure he did. I believe Traditional Jazz is certainly a first cousin to Folk Music and whether or not it would be welcome in a folk club is very much up to the open- or narrow-mindedness of the organisers. Provided nobody comes along expecting to hear traditional, unaccompanied folk songs, there should be no problem.

Keep it coming.

Eddie