"What I find harder to understand is the apparent hostility towards the very idea of a tradition"

I wish people would read what other posters are saying - it's not denying that there are TRADITIONS (plural) in music as in many other things. These are quite often local and very different across the country. What is totally dubious is that there is The Tradition - some great all-encompassing movement that includes all folk music and song. To asssume this is to deny the very thing that makes folk music so wonderful and diverse - its localness. This doesn't mean you can't sing or appreciate songs from localities with which you are not familiar but, like good wine, songs are much more enjoyable when you appreciate their 'terroir'.