"I am quite aware that I have essentially lost the battle to preserve 'folk' to mean music with a certain set of characteristics..."

Did you ever stop to think that there might be a reason why the battle has been lost.

The sacred 1954 definition that so many people cling to seems to be misinterpreted more than anyone will admit to.   If you look at the "set of characteristics" that can be gleaned from using that definition as a guideline, you would see clearly that traditions live and are created,a true folklorist examines such trends and sees that connections.   Unfortunately, most people who cling to that definition seem to have a finite view of ONLY a small section of "folk music".