What's interesting is the difference between attitudes in the US and UK to traditional music. America has no less an authentic english speaking folk tradition but it has to take its place alongside Yiddish music, slave songs, european and asian trad, etc. Puritanical approaches to 'the' tradition are a luxury if not completely inappropriate in that context, which leads to much bemusement at British provenance debates.

Much of the English contemporary revival was informed by folk music from the the US, particularly blues and old time country, and the E. Trad scene was seen through that eclectic prism. This set up a conflict between those who harked back to the seeming purity of Collector's Music and the comparatively laissez faire singer-songwriting new trad.

Looking through folklorist eyes both traditions are new and equally fascinating phenomena.'What is Folk' threads still have plenty of mileage because the revival means so many different things, emotionally as well as intellectually.