Nick,
I'm 66 and have been involved in 'folk music' since my early twenties.
I'm pretty sure I know what 'folk music' is - it's the music and song that drew me into the clubs way back when. Without re-opening the 'definition' argument, (plenty of threads on this forum for that) if I ever forget what it is, I can always go to my bookshelf and refresh my memory from the many hundreds of books there.
My taste and interest in music is fairly catholic; I love jazz and blues and some classics, I regularly listen to Sinatra and Peggy Lee and I have a sneaky regard for some early C&W (nostalgia rather than taste).
I have no interest whatsoever in pop music - it leaves me stone cold (and has done since the early sixties - when The Beatles and football were instrumental in driving me from my home city of Liverpool).
I, like everybody else I know, pigeonholes their tastes. If I want to listen to chamber music, that's what goes on the player, similarly with any other category of music. In the old days back home, I would go to The Cavern (a jazz club then) for my jazz, to the top floor of Sampson and Barlow's for my C&W and to the middle floor of the same establishment or to Gregson's Well for my folk.
When I went out at night, I knew precisely what I would hear, and I could tailor my evenings to suit my moods and inclinations.
That is still the case with Jazz, C&W, Blues and classical music, but it has long ceased to be so with folk music.
I and ( I am convinced) thousands like me ceased to attend 'folk' clubs when they became the dumping grounds for any category of song and music it suited people to attach with the label 'folk', usually for personal convenience rather than misunderstanding and ignorance.
I often used to wonder how an audience for (say) classical music that had turned up for a concert, would react if they were presented with Tommy Peoples - long queues at the box office for their money back, and rapidly dwindling audience if the practice was repeated.
Jim Carroll