:: It's very common practice for people into singer-songwriter music to try to keep all other
:: kinds of music out of their venue. The problem isn't exclusivity in verbal definition, it's
:: exclusivity in actual practice, hidden behind the verbal screen of the word "folk". "
: You need to get out more Jack, and ask more questions. Perhaps in your corner of the world
: it is common practice for singer-songwriters to keep other kinds out of their venue, but
: I do not see that here.

Other people do see it: we had a long thread on Mudcat recently about an event in the US North-East, much bigger than any I've ever attended, which the thread initiator described as a "Not Folk" festival. It had the same sort of exclusivity I'm talking about, except there they stated it explicitly (which is easier to deal with -it doesn't matter so much when people tell you up-front that they're making up new meanings for words).

I suspect one factor in this divide is the increasing tendency for guitarists to learn from tab instead of using their ears. It's easy enough to find tab for singer-songwriter music; memorize it and you're there, your fingers are emulating a karaoke machine. Most of the people going to "folk" events in Midlothian seem to have learned that way. But learning how to back a traditional tune effectively, even with the simplest possible I-IV-V7 chordings, is a different skill that needs practice in its own terms (ear training, and inventing harmonies and rhythms on the fly). Most people who learn DenverDylanPrine stuff never take that additional step.