Sminky's assertion that the "folk" decide what is and is not "folk music" doesn't really work. The folk may well decide what will or will not last, what stays unchanged, what changes, and if so into what.But they dont decide what is and is not folk. The folk apply the folk process. But since when were the folk interested in defining folk music? The concept of "folk music" is a recent bit of useful academic classification, somewhat perverted of late into new meanings, such as "songs with acoustic guitar", or "songs about Afghanistan and Iraq from a broadly liberal/left viewpoint". The "folk", as far as I know, do not sit about debating whether Seth Lakeman's latest composition is, or is not, a folk song. That is a discussion for Mudcatters and others of that ilk. We may be just plain folk, but we are not "The Folk".