I think Goodall made it very clear from the beginning that the "story" of music, as such, was his own story.

He also made it clear that, until notation started to appear, we have absolutely no idea - other than conjecture - what "popular and folk music" sounded like. He linked early church music to the Roman era - but drew no conclusions. If anyone can tell me what, say, 8th century AD 'folk' music was and sounded like, I'd be very interested to hear.

As for his personal background, who gives a shit.