One of the elements I find missing in today's songwriters is a strong story line. This is what has always intrigued me about traditional balladry. Woody Guthrie had an ability to do this by boiling his words down to essentials. Ludlow Massacre. 1913 Massacre. Tom Joad.

I like a song that goes somewhere from someplace and is not static about an ephemeral
misty emotion.

Also, I like songs with strong choruses that pull people into the act.

I think of the traditional folk song almost in a journalistic sense conveying a historical event (even if the history is not based primarily on fact).

Much of what is singer songwriter is in the shape of an art song or tone poem. It sets a mood, a lot of it melancholy. It seems less related to the story tradition and more toward
a feeling of the moment.

I like songs with political content as well such as "Which Side Are You On?" or "Banks of Marble". (Historical footnotes are sometimes required but the song fits situations today).

I think there are ways of listening to all kinds of music with different ears. I see getting into a space where a long story song can maintain interest but requires a kind of quieter and relaxed state of mind which is not part of the MTV generation. Sometimes it works in front of a campfire or on the back porch when the sun is going down.

I think that a well-written or a solid piece of song material is best served by a kind of receptivity that slows the process of general excitement down. Then you can get caught up in the song and it has a hypnotic hold over you. This is how I feel about the so-called traditional folk song done by a traditional singer.

Today's singer songwriters seem to have almost a pop song sensibility. It appears to me that the songs are sometimes written to amaze, to impress with their cleverness,and to reach as wide an audience as possible even if the subject matter is esoteric.

Boredom at a performance might be possibly the inability of the listener to appreciate
the story song in the atmosphere of a hectic modern pace. Also, there needs to be a connection (sub-text) by which the song is understood. This might be a knowledge of
the cultural background of a song or references requiring not too many footnotes.

Putting on "folk" ears is distinguishable from "jazz" ears or "classical music" ears.
Each idiom brings to it a different attitude of receptivity.

The best way for a folk audience to appreciate folk songs is to somehow involve them in the process by either knowing the song in advance or singing choruses. With folk songs,
even if you don't know the song, you do because it contains an element of familiarity.