"I’m in broad agreement with Iains.
What seems to be missing here is the fact that in England at least our song traditions had died and we inherited what had been left behind
The universal and timeless nature of our songs made them still relevant and the forms used to create them were as usable as they ever where to create new songs (which could never become folk unless a new oral tradition was established allowing the populace to absorb them into their creative culture)
The revival was based on listening to songs that shared similar sounds and structures - the unique sound of 'folk' (whether the songs weer 'folk' or not
That provided a foundation, leaving a degree of room to experiment
That seems to be what has disappeared ffrom today's scene and has been raplaced by "we no longer what folk song is"
That is proving not to be sustainable and folk song is being lost in the process
The clubs and the songs have to be indivisble if are both to survive
Jim