My own tastes run towards traditional folk music, both for listening and for playing. And for when I writed music, for that matter. My personal definition of folk music does not include most contemporary songwriting, but I am realistic enough to know that the word has come to include some part of that genre.

One thing I have noticed is that if you give a singer/songwirter a budget, she all too ofteh turns into either a pop band or a country-pop band. I have a hard time telling the difference between a singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar being backed up by electric bass, drums, and synthesizer and, say, Jethro Tull or the Beatles using an acoustic guitar. Or Nirvana Unplugged, for that matter. Are these bands all folk bands? Or do they become folk bands when they use an acoustic guitar? On the other hand, if you play traditional folk music in a cross-genre setting like a rock band, a jazz band, or a classical string quartet, it remains traditional folk music. You don't even need any acoustic instruments. The nature of the music itself doesn't change.

By the way, I am not bashing singer/songwriters here, I am just commenting on my own takes on the words we use. Everyone should play whatever music they are called to play, and a good song is a good song wherever it comes from.

John