"It does have boundaries, just as Flotsam has boundaries; the boundary is context."

So now I understand (I think): Anything played in a 'folk context' (including death metal) is folk music. So it's not the *music* at all that makes it *folk*, it's the context(?).

What you describe as folk clubs, etc. sounds like open mike night at any one of a half dozen coffee houses within walking distance of my house. Therefore, these are folk clubs and this is folk music? Or does it only become folk music when you call it folk music (in a 'folk context')? You are using the word to define itself, a circular argument and hopelessly imprecise.