shambles...I see your point exactly, I think...you are pleading for the creative process and the enjoyment of music to not be hampered and clouded by bickering over details of classification...and in some respects, you are right on! Writers & composers SHOULD feel free to create what moves them and, usually, they will..(taking into account those who 'write to the audience' for profit only).

The problem is, your duck analogy misses a couple of points. Evolution, driven partly by natural selection and partly by random mutation, cannot be directly compared to conscious and intentional (and I would add, gratuitous) changes in musical styles.'Evolution', as pertaining to species, is simple not the same concept as 'evolution' in music, or clothing styles, or architecture...(I think the logical fallacy is called 'equivocation')

Second, although your point is clear and well-taken, it is, in the last analysis YOUR point. For some reason, people just have differing views on categories, even in regard to natural species. Take dogs...most of them can interbreed, also, and left alone would produce mutts! But some folk LIKE a certain 'look', and take great pains to define, breed, and maintain canine categories. There are equivalent processes going on to preserve the look (and flavor) of various poultry (including ducks). You probably have some preferences in cusine, (Chinese, Italian, Mexican, French, etc., and their various sub-categories) and you probably would be upset if your favorite restaurant started changing the dishes with spices and sauces you were not used to, and didn't care for. (My wife is 2nd generation Italian, and you should hear her expound on cilantro & goat cheese!!)

Almost every hobby, from model trains to quilting, has the arguments we are struggling with here...some organized clubs have VERY strict definitions of what they allow in their shows and publications, etc., and those who want changes, or have some creative need to 'evolve', are obliged to start a new group. It is not a matter of 'better', just a matter of 'different' .

The fact is traditional folk music comprises a pretty small portion of the market these days..(ask Sandy Paton how many millions of the wonderful things HE produces get sold each year!)... and if we simply shrug when far-reaching changes are made, then people like me who go to the record store to find a new CD discover that all the 'singer-songwriter' and 'new-age Celtic' has been crammed into the formerly small 'folk' bin just because it was a convenient, short, name.(yeah, I know 'some' stores make an effort...but...)

I am NOT asking that nothing ever change!! That would be silly, as well is inpossible and stultifying, but I must take issue with your summation...

"I would suggest that categories in music are more for critics and writers than for those that listen to it and create the music. They prevent people from being exposed to music that they might otherwise like."

This is true ONLY if you assume that 'critics and writers' and 'people who create and listen to music' are different species somehow. You may create more, and I may critique more, but we all participate in the process. And I truly doubt that a large number of narrow categories prevents people from "being exposed to music that they might otherwise like". If they are naturally eclectic in their musical tastes, they will find the categories...especially with MTV, the internet, and hundreds of radio stations pouring it out all day! On the contrary, many categories, properly used , can make it easier for both narrow, purist little ME and eclectic YOU to find the kind of music we want right NOW!...Is it always fuzzy around the edges?? Sure....no category is perfect...but the rock & roll crowd no more wants to have to paw over Almeda Riddle & Martin Carthy than I want to have to struggle thru Nine Inch Nails and Green Day!(and I presume that there are those who would complain that Green Day and 9' Nails NEVER belong in the same categroy)

(and here I stop...though I have made about 10% of the point that were swirling around in my head...it is not easy being a curmudgeon)