I have a standard response for the request to play my favorite song. I tell them, "the one I'm singing now is my favorite".

As a musician, I find it important to study all kinds of music, whether I can play/sing them or not. Today's "World Music" is vital and some of it brilliant. Jazz is undergoing a transformation with the influence of Coltrane but some of the younger performers such as Esperanza Spalding. I think (though many don't agree with me) that Philip Glass is an important proponent of classical music and opera. His music is cinematic. Pop music has been corporatized so that much of it is so tailored to the market that it becomes redundant. There are probably "underground" bands that don't get heard on media that are interesting. We are so lucky today that many formerly scarce recordings of folk music are now accessible and available. Many field recordings offer interest as well as early interpreters. The UK revival thing is exciting. It parallels what happened in the late Fifties here in the US but quickly became co-opted by rock. Some of that was unique and interesting such as The Byrds, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and Dylan. African-American music reached a pinnacle of pop with Stax Records and Motown. Pop country has gone downhill considerably since the high level of Lefty Frissel and Hank Williams.

Folk music has influenced much of all styles of music in definable ways such as a return to "minimalism" and lyric content rather than the vapid "moon and June" rhymes. I think it will continue to do so.