There are folk songs and then there's folk singing. No matter how much some of us would like to make rules about what 'folks' are allowed to sing, they're going to ignore us in the millions and go about happily humming 'Feels Like Teen Spirit' and 'Hey Jude'. They're going to (and by the way, I love this) continue to write their essay answers to standardized test questions in the form of a rap. They're going to whip out the dead date songs such as 'Teen Angel' at the end of a singing session when the easily offended have gone off to bed.

The 'folk' sing for joy, and they really don't care about what other people don't like or what offends them. I love the traditional stuff, but the minute someone gets all shirty about it and wants to ban all new songs, it sure doesn't make me want to sing the songs they like.

Of course, it doesn't sound like you want to ban ALL new songs. Shimrod, the more you write here, the more I think you're talking about music you like vs. music you don't like. I don't think what George sings is 'folk', as in 'traditional', but I like it too. Other people sing the same generation of songs, and I may not like them. It's not about what is or isn't 'folk', it's about the way you believe everyone else should think. When you try to tell other people what to think, you wind up with and argument. If one uses a definition as a standard to judge what should be instead of describe what is, the word interferes rather than aids communication.

We sometimes refer to traditional music as 'roots' music If the tradition is a living thing, it has to have more than just roots.