Banjiman,I understand your reservations. But like Diane, I think "folk" is almost a meaningless term. I'll fight like a scary fighting thing to keep definable parameters around the definition of "traditional" (at least in the UK - there's very little we can do about the wierd American/Grammy Awards definition, I expect) but folk means so many things now. If John Tams can sing original songs with Barry Coope accompanying him on an electric keyboard and it's folk; if I can sit in a music session next to tenor sax, oboe or clarinet players and it's folk; if what Karine Polwart does is folk; why is what Megan and Joe are doing not folk? Would Karine stop being folk, for instance, if she introduced a sax player?

EBTG were an acoustic duo (till the whole drum n bass thing, but i'm referring to their earlier stuff). It was intelligently written acoustic music, which is what much of the world would categorise as folk. What Megan and Joe are doing, for me, sits well within those parameters.

Personally, I'm really encouraged by the fact that there were two unaccompanied, traditional-style singers in the finals. I think that speaks volumes about the health of the tradition among young people.