1. folk music as a genre w/stylistic features
vs
2. folk music as a process
vs
3. folk music in terms of who produces music / how / for what reason

I personally am not interesting in nailing down a definition of "folk music." If I really need to describe something, I know of clearer adjectives.

I will say, however, that my personal notion of folk music lays emphasis on #3, in which the producers are acting as amateurs (this has nothing to do with skill or training) or at least it is inclusive of amateurs. And the people are creating the music at some "local" level, for themselves and their "community."

Growing up as a musician, who first played in punk/hardcore bands and when to those shows, and had little jams with friends on Blues and stuff, along with tinkering around on dulcimers or whatever...and also having free form improvisation sessions like this (i.e. making a bunch of racket with fun sounds to get out creativity and enjoy ourselves)... I had the sense that that was our contemporary equivalent of whatever people, in hindsight, had labeled to be "folk" music of the past.

My concept of "folk music" is not specific to the genre of music played, nor does it have to do with a continuous tradition, and definitely not to do with national/ethnic "heritage." I'm aware that I may have "wrongly" appropriated "folk music" for my own ideas, but I'm not worried about it.