"If it quacks like a duck but isn't a duck will the other ducks consider it duck-like enough to quack back?"....

well, THIS duck will! I like certain types of music...'most' of which are traditional, and if you write a song today that fits that mood, style, feeling, subject matter, etc., I will welcome it as 'in the tradition', though not yet traditional..(you want PRIME examples? do a database search on Craig Johnson). If, on the other hand, you write a breathy, atonal bit of navel-gazing, and happen to play it on an acoustic guitar, it will NEVER be traditional folk! [It may become traditional "introspective multichordal fluff" someday...but those who DO that sort of thing don't seem to like my labels.. *grin*...they want to use pre-established categories and just surreptitiously expand the boreders]

Some has to write music, else there will be no new music...and when a song feels right, sure...bring it in! It is being done occasionally, as noted above, and there is some good music being written that is NOT 'in the tradition'...and I will listen and enjoy...but I won't put it in the same bin just because I like it. Categories have a purpose!