Actually, one HAS to define folk and THE folk before agreeing to THE process rather than A process. In other words, taking the Ethnomuicologist folk = yesterday's anonimous music, then the beging post is accurate, but there is a set of assumptions that then flow, ie: we who grew up in folk families, families of singers who pass on songs and compose new ones are only folk singers in half of what we do. On the other hand, if we can get a handle on what is the definition of THE folk, then we get some handle on what is our music, eh? I think continuing tradition is a good part of that understanding, and I with a law degree I hardly use, who makes most of my money busking and producing music about the rest of us who produce, well, hell, I know I am one of the folk. I think Mr. Trump may bristle if you call him just folk. He has aspirations of being somewhere up above folks, but geeze, I guess if he had some family music and wrote some song about how hard it is being a rich guy, and how much goes into telling folks (there I go again) when to jump and get him another glass of champain, well, is it folk? Dunnoh?
Maybe folks and folk music is like pornography in the eyes of the Soup Court justice, who said, "I can't give you a definition, but I know it when I see it..." It tends to let you know when it is real, and when it is some kid who never worked a day, read a book about the hard life - took guitar lessons, listend to a stack of records and went out to become a folk singer.
Now I realise that is problematic, as there are some really tallented folks, whose job it is to produce music, and, well, like Paul Simon, some of his stuff, I would find it hard to say is not folk, and yet, there he is, he kinda looks like the fellow I describe above, eh? I dunnoh?
But I know it when I see it...
A small aside, when it comes to being under educated after college, I think, I had a lot of fun in law school and learned alot of useful notions (in the Quaker sence of an unconected thought). But what turned those notions into useful thought was the fact that I began work full time at the age of 11, spent time at sea, saw a lot of the world from behind one tool or another, had soldiers point guns at me, saw what was out there, then it made some sence when I read books about it. Maybe that is part of the process of my writing folks songs, rather than popular music... as much as inheriting a singing tradition from my father.
Larry