There y'go again
"54 has always been a red-herring,nobody has ever argued that it doesn't need updating - I seldom refer to it, if ever
As far as I am concerned, traditional and folk are two inseparable terms - two sides of the same coin
'Folk refers to the people who almost certainly made, took ownership, adapted, re-adapted and distributed the songs, stories and music; tradition refers to the process the songs underwent to become 'folk'
The term folk was taken up by Sharp and Co at the beginning of the 20th century and has continued to be used in the way it was first coined up to the present day, the last major use of it being the release of 'The J M Carpenter Folk song Collection', recently made available on line
The use has never included pop songs, music hall songs, stage songs... etc., unless they have been subjected to the folk process
"
Jim