I've actually started using the term "ethnic folk" to try to describe what we play. "Folk music" has come to mean pretty much anything, and "traditional folk" makes peoples' eyes glaze over, expecting dead boring performances by socially inept fuddy-duddies.

By the way, I don't care much about defining folk music as a part of my playing. Like most people, I play what I like and introduce it as seems appropriate to the situation. My only interest in definitions is so we can actually talk about the music. If we want to do away with definitions, we'll end up with classical, rap, and country western all in the same bin at the record store, and audiences that don't have any idea what they are in for when they go out to hear music.

Any musician who can't hear the difference between a traditional melody and a contemporary melody isn't paying attention.