interesting,it does not shed very much light on what is folk.
however here isdifferent opinion of what is folk.
John Brune said.
we must get rid of songs below a certain standard,we must write and compose more contemporary songs,we need a different approach.,perhaps we should ask whether songs in a collection are in good taste,good taste can be defined more easily than folk songs-it is thelove of things of lasting value,coupled to an instinctive dislike of anything merely fashionable.
I interpret this as meaning,we should be judging songs whether new or old on their merit.
whether it is a folk song is not so important,this seemed to be the attitude of singers like Fred Jordan.
Folk song collectors make a similar as well,by only collecting from traditional singers.
folk song collectors[or collectors of traditional singers,make a value judgement] who they are going to collect from,rather than are these good songs and/or is the singer a good singer.
the classic example of this was the sussex singer Bob Blake who was in fact a revival singer,and who collectors like Kennedy pooh poohed and ignored,and whose songs and singing were collected only because the collector genuinely but mistakenly thought he was a traditional singer.
too much importance is given to what is a folk song,or who is a traditional singers,there is an attitude amongst some which is reminisecent of butterfly collectors.