"I'm not sure what is NOT folk, as the title asks, but I know that 'what is NOT good manners' is to look down on bands and their audiences as being kinda halfwits, who really wouldn't understand certain traditional singers if they fell over them. And for me, it's that patronising, pseudo-intellectual, looking down their noses, aren't we sooooo clever! attitude that has really put me off so much traditional folk music and some of the very musicians who perform it."

Funny that! It's exactly that sort of exclusivity which is one of the things that attracts me to folk music. But then I've always despised fashion of any sort. And "patronising" is too weak and wishy-washy a word, Lizzie. How about 'contemptuous'?