More authenticity? More quality? More bangs for your buck? I've no idea because I can't hear the difference.

I'm fairly pragmatic about this, actually. I know from experience that traditional music is likely to interest me and that singer-songwriter work is likely to bore me. Some traditional performances are arse-achingly boring, and some singer-songwriters are stunning, but (for me) the balance of interest vs boredom is mostly the other way round. As far as I'm concerned, an awful lot of traditional material has something - does something - which only a little contemporary material does. So I don't think throwing open the doors to contemporary material is likely to result in a more interesting evening.