Sorry guys, but you are dead wrong on this one - or perhaps a better way of saying it is that your definition is out of tune with the reality of what is happening today. You also fail to see the connection with the definitions that YOU are putting forward.

M.Ted says that "I offer the idea that, whatever it is, it isn't exactly folk music at this point in time, because it neither speaks to, nor speaks for any group with a collective identity--meaning a group that is conscious that it is insulated and differentiated from the general society by some common criteria, that those criteria have priority over things that that would include them in the general society, and that, because of that differentiation, they have a shared destiny ."

Again, you aren't hanging out in the right places. The definition YOU quoted is EXACTLY the group that I have been referring to. I just spent a weekend with over 700 artists who are perpetuating this music and the community that it appeals to.

It is real, it exists, it will be around. You can deny it all you want - but if you open your eyes and take a step back, it is clear as day.