Thanks Jim. We are back on track and almost in agreement about what we are discussing. Discount traditional folk, which is taken as read. Discount folk rock, as that is not played in folk clubs and we are left with the only discussion point being contemporary songs in the folk idiom. Which is what I said. I do however disagree with your statement "The problem is your interpretation of what constitutes 'the folk idiom'". That is not the problem. The problem is that our interpretations of what constitutes 'the folk idiom' differ.

But let's leave that for now and go to your points made about what a song in the folk idiom comprises of. These are :-

1. word dominated, narrative communications of ideas and emotions
2. accompaniment, where it occurs is secondary to the narrative
3. The characters in the songs are identifiable people, usually with occupations and individuality
4. They have problems and situations we can all identify with
5. Structurally they ar four or eight line versified, they may have choruses but they hardly ever repeat phrases other than as a plot device

Before I begin to address these I want to make sure that you are saying that if a song (not the singer or the performance) contains these elements, it is in the folk idiom. What about the melodic structure? Should we discount this and, if not, other than it sounds folky, how do we define that?