> "What killed the popularity of folk songs were the academics." Anyone
> care to explain?

The same way that Eng Lit kills off poetry for most schoolchildren: Once a butterfly can be pinned down (for display or dissection), it's dead.

.... Though in this case, methinks there may be a confusion between correlation and causation. The academics were there all along, both before and after; but the populace moved (or were moved) on to other newer diversions, and the ebbing of the folk revival left us old farts behind as flotsam on the shores of music. Your task, if you choose to accept it, is to keep the tradition alive for future generations. Good luck.