Just for curiosity I checked through the introduction by Donal Lummy to the Christy Moore Songbook. Four pages all about Christy and where he fits in and what's he's done, and what he sings - and the word "folk" doesn't come into it once. And unless I'm very much mistaken, in a book with 142 pages and over 100 songs, the word doesn't come up once either.

And I wouldn't think for a moment that that is intentional "let's not use that word" - it's just wouldn't have seemed a significant word in the contextof a living tradition.

The definition doesn't lie in the word, it stands or falls with the people making the music. You don't add to the clarity of the situation by saying that Christy Moore is a folk singer.. or Martin Carthy... or Norma Waterson...and so forth. You define the music by saying "it's the sort of songs that Christy Moore, or Martin Carthy...Norma Waterson.. and so forth...all sing". And that's how I'd read what Art said just now, and got savaged for. (And Art would be in that list as well.)