Is your definition documented anywhere Steve - does it have a following, where can I go to get information on it or, if   if someone were to ask where they can learnn about it, which direction do I point them, how does 'Delilah' or all the other pop songs that have bee mentioned here (or don't the people who wish to call those pop songs have a say in the matter), or is it something you have knocked up for your own personal use - oh sorry - you just said you did - in 10 minutes.
Well done - it took around 55 years for the IFMC to come up with theirs.
Come ooooonnnn Steve - you can you claim to be a researcher and think you can redefine folk music in 10 minutes.
This just underlines the ludicrousness of the situation existing in the revival as it stands today.
If language means so little that anybody can adapt it for their own personal use we may as well all become hermits and talk to the mirror.
And where does the music I have come to understand as Folk/traditional stand with your personal definition - how do I tell someone who asks that they have to include Blue Suede Shoes in their definition - or have they got to work out a definition for themselves?
The clubs bombed because your 'anything goes' attitude took a hold in sometime in the late 70s, early 80s when it was not just possible to go into a folk club and not hear a folk song (in fact, you could no longer expect any typee of song from a folk club), but it became the norm.
I really would hate to see that happen in the fiel;d of research.
Far from "folk" or "tradition" being a "short" summary of a type of music, it's an extremely well researched and documented genre.
I'm in the process of digitising my vinyl and cassette albums at present - not done a full count yet, but there must be around.... what.... 800 of them from Britain, Ireland, America, Canada, Europe (East and West), Asia, Africa.... all more or less fitting the description I know to have been in use since William Thoms came up withe the term'Folk' in 1846 - ten minutes - wow!!
Jim Carroll