For most people folk music is music folks sing. It doesn't have an agenda. I don't sing Down on Penny's Farm (as my example) because I am speaking for downtrodden tenant farmers, or small farmers who are being plowed under by large corporate conglomerates. I don't march around the coffee house carrying a placard saying Mister Penny Unfair To Tenant Farmers. I wouldn't sing Bay Rum Blues to protest the increase in tax on liquor, either. The only songs I've ever sung that had an agenda are ones I wrote during the Vietnam War. I wouldn't even include the gospel I sing and write as having an agenda, as I am not evangelizing. I'm just singing what I feel and what I enjoy singing. I think that's true of most people. But not all. I've also written lines like "An honest day's work for an honest day's pay was enough for a hard-working man."

All that said, Folk music (I think) has much more often been used as a means of drawing like-minded people together to rally for improved working conditions (ever hear one used as a rallying cry for Bosses unite?)or to rebel against unjust wars or social injustice. It is a powerful tool, and has been used for positive change in this country. And is still being used for good.

I could probably do an evening of folk music and believe that I didn't sing a single "protest" song, while someone else with a different mind frame would think that most of the songs I sang were protest songs.

And good on you Kent, for your post. The one point I'd add is that songs that no longer are sung as protest songs may well have BEEN protest songs at the time they were written. Now they're more of a window to the past.

And a hell of a lot of fun to sing. Whether you're liberal or conservative.

Jerry