I agree with Jim and others, musicians and singers need more than
technique to engage with listeners. I have seen players and singers who have given a technically flawless performances and at the finish left me cold. Why? they have no rapport or personal engagement with me they are little more than a robot. To enjoy music I need the player or singer to be a warm and interesting person, to tell me why he likes a tune or some little story about it, not a lecture.
The purely academic approach to folk music or any other sort of music has no appeal to me and I do not need to be told how I should enjoy my music.