All of which is very interesting but a bit of a thread drift, no? My OP wasn't so much about trying to spark a debate about 'what is class?' or 'who's best, the middle class or the working class?' but a slightly tongue in cheek attempt to raise the issue about where class comes into folk music now it's ceased to be 'the music of the people' and become 'the music of the people who like folk music'.

My contention in the OP was that the real 'music of the people' - at least in the western, English speaking world - is probably rap (with stadium rock for the older generation). If it then follows that folk music is no longer 'the music of the people' - and some would say it hasn't been since the start of the twentieth century - does it matter if the audience, like the audience in the UK for jazz, classical, exporatory, world, avant garde and some rock music, is predominantly middle class? At least someone's keeping it alive.

I think it was a post of the WLD on another thread that got me thinking about this - something about traditional music and middle class elitism. I was (still am!) a longtime listener to loud guitars played by loud young men (the first band I ever went to see was the Clash - fronted by the very middle class but wonderful Joe Strummer) and I only started listening to folk and traditional music seriously in the past three or so years. So with no history of being part of the past forty years of folk wars, I do find it odd that any music can be described in this way. Surely it's there for anyone who wants it? How does some middle class people liking it make it elitist or take it away from anyone else who wants it?

Any answers?

Nigel