Unless there is some degree of agreement it is difficult to describe what occurs within a folk club, let alone being able to categorize the material performed(I am sure there is a better word-but it escapes me)

Jim. I do not think you will find anyone on this forum trying to "junk"
either the material, the existing definitions, or the existing body of research on traditional folk. I cannot see where you get that idea from - certainly not from me. Instead of cherrypicking the bits of a post you do not like and immediately firing off the hip, try and read the entire post and make a reasoned case as with your extensive, thoughtful post above.
I think many of us here are trying to find a way of making the 54 definition encompass "contemporary folk"
As I said above Dave the Gnome made(for me), fairly unique wider interpreation of the 54 definition that allows for "modern contributions" to the genre.

I will   try and explain my problem in terms of what you have previously posted and if I misquote you please correct me.
You say the traditional creative process is dead(the travellers all purchased TV's) Undoubtedly true! Work songs largely if not entirely gone the same way. Hard to sing or create a shanty when one person operating a couple of spool valves does the work of fifty. Similarly I never heard roughnecks singing, only a lot of grunting- until topdrives and iron roughnecks reduced some of the hard graft required.

Undoubtedly there is a huge body of collected work and many performers draw on it. But in your definitions it is now a sterile ,fossilised body of work, with no fresh input, as the traditions have died.
That is why I referred to it (using your definitions)as worrying a corpse. I am not trying to belittle the traditional works in any way, or rejecting them. I suppose in essence what I am trying to say that as the performers/audience get further from the traditions that created them then I suspect the attraction to the genre will diminish over time. MY PERSONAL VIEW! However if you accept that a modern tradition exists then it enables a continuous link with the past and broadens the appeal. If you restrict the definition then I think you do the genre a great disservice.

I would be interested to know what you would describe the transatlantic sessions as - it certainly gathered a wide audience and interest.