I think George P and Folknacious raise a really good point here. Can we talk about authenticity (not culture) when referring to an art form which has been handed down over so many years. Can we really have any confidence that what people think is 'authentic' is. That is, if by authentic we mean how it was originally intended to be sung and/ or played.

Can we really know how somebody sang and played a ballad 300 years ago when all that was handed down was the lyrics on a broadside.

I don't personally see how we can (but I am open to persuasion), unless we are not talking about authenticity but about something along the lines of a 'collective acceptance by the folk music population' that was agreed upon sometime in the last fifty or so years.

By the way, I don't think there is anything wrong with people who like their folk music a certain way or in a certain style, but can this be badged as 'authenticity' or is it just what has been the norm in more recent living memory?

I do find this interesting, has this topic been the subject of many previous threads? I assume so.