Well, I suspect that they are right, aren't they, that you are a folk-song-singer not a folk singer? You have consciously learned the songs from dots or recordings, for the most part, rather than through the folk process. There are not many folk singers now and I certainly am not one. Even Martin Carthy used to make the distinction back in the 60s and 70s and explain that he was a folk-song-singer, a revivalist rather than a source.