I could never understand why acoustic guitar plus mike and amp = good while electric guitar + mike and amp = bad. What on earth is the difference? People used amplification so that they could be heard in a room full of people. Of course guitarists were thrilled when something that really worked was invented.

I read somewhere that Doc Watson, who had been playing an electric guitar, was advised by someone that he and his musical partners should switch over to acoustic instruments so that people would book him in folk clubs, for folk festivals, etc. The fact that people would listen to someone or not based on whether a guitar is electric or not just shows how much BS there was and is in the entertainment business, which includes folk music, "authentic" or not. People talk about artists/entertainers or entire genres as being "commercial" or not. If you're getting paid, it's commercial.

I think "stuffy and archaic" is well put. When I was young, I didn't question genre labels and just accepted them as being somehow come from on high. Now, "folk" doesn't pull the crowds so they've invented "Roots" and "Americana" --- terms for genres that don't exist and get up my nose every time I hear them.