During my freshman year of college, in 1958, I started hanging about in a coffee house with a group of like-minded boys and girls who had fallen in love with "folk music." Now, none of us, at the time, really knew or, more to the point, gave a rat's backside concerning the difference between "traditional" or "ethnic" songs and the things we were beginning to hear on the radio. Two camps developed in this venue. Those who chose the path of a rather self-righteous defense of "traditional" music; i.e., the Child ballads, songs collected by the Lomax family, etc., and those of us who did not find some updating all that offensive.

I say, to thine own self be true. For me, good music, well performed, trumps the more intellectual exercise of being absolutely true to the original material and performance style. For those who love the research and the collection of the arcane, God bless you. You're the folks who found the material we used. We are both right.

I have noted, over the years, that the audiences for the more polished
versions of "folk songs" tend to be consistently larger than those which favor the "pure" form. If that makes the former more "commercial," I'd take that to the bank.