Without wanting to re-open what was anyway a side-debate on this thread, I can't help noticing on the fRoots forum that the Grammy nominations this year include:

Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album
Joan Baez - Day After Tomorrow [Bobolink/Razor & Tie]
Ry Cooder - I, Flathead [Nonesuch Records]
Rodney Crowell - Sex & Gasoline [Work Song/Yep Roc Records]
Emmylou Harris - All I Intended To Be [Nonesuch Records]
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand [Rounder Records]

Best Traditional Folk Album (!)
Kathy Mattea - Coal [Captain Potato Records]
Tom Paxton -Comedians & Angels [Appleseed Recordings]
Peggy Seeger- Bring Me Home [Appleseed Recordings]
Pete Seeger - At 89 [Appleseed Recordings]
Rosalie Sorrels - Strangers In Another Country [Red House Records]

I mention it only because I think it explains why we have such a problem with expressions like Traditional and Contemporary over here. I, myself, don't mind using the word 'folk' to describe all of the above (though I know where are plenty who would reject them all with passion), but even I'm struggling to allow the application of the the word 'traditional' to the second group.

Does the word not have the same meaning in US law as it does (just one of its definitions) in the UK; 'in public ownership?'

Tom