"   The fact that so many people are making music and playing music is a testament to their work."

Right, but no one really is just listening. The audience today is basically very limited. The old too many chiefs and not enough Indians concept. It's very lopsided now in the wrong direction. Way too many singer/songwriters doing their "what about me?" tunes and no one much going to see them.

The audience is overwhelmingly gone. There are all of these players now and no one lining up to see them at a concert hall.   The comparison is no comparison. Millions of the old audience knew a style of music they refered to as folk music. Of those millions still around, only a meager handful in comparison cling to what it has evolved to. That's the reality of it. Call it confusing it with commercial success if you want, but the songs of those commercially successful left a big imprint of work and influence.

The names mentioned might very well be talented, but outside of a very small circle, their impact is been very miniscule.

You will never convince me that lining up a bunch of odds and end chairs in a living room is nothing more than just trying to keep a style of music called folk music is nothing more than a desperate last gasp as viable entertainment. Yes, entertainment. Art doesn't die, true. But as a viable entertainment for a lot of people to relate to, folk music is in it's last generation.