"So what to do? I love traditional folk music, play it a lot, and listen to it more than anything else."

There is no "traditional folk music". There are, however, plenty of traditional folk musics. Lots of different countries and regions have them - and guess what? They don't all sound the same! They're not a single genre! I presume, JohnP, you play a couple of them, perhaps from the UK/US traditions, rather than from, say, the Mongolian or Uzbekistani or Malian traditions? Personally I'm a huge fan of traditional folk musics from India, Pakistan, North Africa and the Middle East. None of them sound much like Dock Boggs or Lizzie Higgins, f'rinstance, much as I love the music of those two individuals. I guess that's not what you mean when you describe traditional music as a "genre"?

Just a thought.