Conrad,
"Reminder that this discussion is not about definition of folk "
Respectfully; in setting the question in the terms you did you have invited comparisons between traditional and contemporary, otherwise, what can possibly be "right" or "wrong" about the composing of new songs? - sorry.
I believe any general question on folk music will inevitably come down to one of definition; no harm as far as I can see, but I sometimes wish we didn't have to start pushing the same ball of shit up the same hill each time.
And btw - folk has nothing whatever to do with age. We were collecting songs that fitted perfectly (certainly my) understanding of folk, from Travellers, that had been made within five years of our having been given them, simply because, certainly up to the mid-seventies, the machinery was still very much in place to process any new song into folk, should it be accepted by the community in which it had been made. Portable televisions put a stop to that within eighteen months.
Similarly, here in the West of Ireland, we were recording songs from old singers which must have been made during their lifetimes and concerning events in this area, yet one thing that was common to all was that it proved impossible to find who had composed them originally.
Jim Carroll