Since when is folk music about performing? Once you create a separation between a singer and the people listening, it's performing. And success at that is measured at the box office.
are you a performer? every performer worth his/her saltknows that pervorming well means involving the audience ,it means interaction,between the performer and the audience.
your statement is the biggest load of nonsense,why do you assume performing involves a separation between a singer and people,good performing does not do that neither does good acting,good storytelling or good singing,if done well we say that was a good perfomance.