"It's not black and white: there are many colours."
Of course there are - within genres of songs
It's lumping all the genres together that disturbs me
This is why I feel it virtually impossible to discuss this subject without discussing the function of the songs and what prompted them to be made in the first place
Much of this work has been done by the more serious of the revival singers
I have to say I am at a loss to understand Steve Round's take on the revival - his description rages from denim clad, guitar strumming activists to agenda driven Marxists - he appears to be unaware of the serious work that was done by some performers.
When he described his own personal tastes in one interview he cited two women singers both as far away from traditional singing as you could possibly get - arcetypical breathy 'little girl' voices, gappy - 'note-per-syllable' phrasing, non-narrative and no discernable interpretation.
Maybe we're talking about a different type of folk song
Jim Carroll