"Some great crossover between the US and UK music scenes in this thread!"

We keep having this hoary old 'folk/not folk' argument in the UK. IMHO there is no definitive answer because people have differing opinions on what Folk Music is/was/should be, and it's a genre that's in constant evolution. But I agree with Barry, it's a pretty poor Festival that excludes traditional performers. And I'd reckon a festival that excluded contemporary material was pretty poor too. There's room for both.

But at least the US-contingent keep their arguments civil and civilised, unlike some of the contributors to arguments this side of the pond. Congratulations Ron, Don et al - you do yourselves credit. :-)