M. Ted,
I agree, although at least a couple of us here have been at some pains to say that we are not products of the tradition. I think, however, it would be interesting to pursue the question of whether we need to redefine the tradition for the modern age. The agrarian/working class society that was the source and conduit for this music is pretty much gone. Now we all use the internet, listen to CDs, perform music for money, live in the United States, and so forth.

Are we to say that the folk process has stopped, and that there can be no new variants of songs, no new transmission routes, no more polishing the rough edges of melodies? Or should we start with the body of music we all know as traditional, keep it in circulation, and start watching what sort of changes come about as a result of the music being in our society, instead of a society from the past?

Part of this, of course, would require that people learn the songs and stop looking at the music and listening to the CD. Anyone who constantly refers back to the source and tries to maintain its nuances in their playing is, in effect, saying that their source is the final version. An evolutionary dead end for that song.