Dunno about not 'understanding' folk music, I grew up believing folk was not 'our' music but 'their' music, clever people I came across, teachers, clerics, the middle classes generally. I knew no working class people like ourselves who 'appreciated' folk music even though my parents sang (though by no means exclusively) songs that met the definition, even THE definition.

As I got older and began to listen to the stuff more closely it was clear there was a contradiction - this was music of the oiks, talented oiks certainly who came up with the thing but probably the same group as ourselves, but had been adopted/purloined/appropriated (choose your own) by completely different people, those with refined sensibilities. I liked it but was in no way refined which put me out on a limb.

For those reasons I take no lectures on what is inside or outside by those who believe it takes learning and education to perceive properly. A definition that acknowledged what the music was about, how it arrived here and through what processes of mediation and consumption would be more honest and relevant and may give the opportunity for ordinary people to take part again and continue making.