I've looked into this thread several times, got annoyed each time, but refrained from dashing off a sarcastic missile up the ass of some of the respondents. Art Thieme always quoted (was it Bill BroonzY?) saying that he'd never heard animals sing so it must ALL be folk music. It is so rare to hear "FOLK" music on radio or see it on TV (and forget the GRAMMYS), if you don't like a particular style of folk music, I don;t think there is a law in any country in the world that forces you to listen to it. So don't. Go and support concerts by people YOU like, because if you don't, they'll have to stop touring. The ones you think are awful will stop, because if everybody else agrees with you, that act will go broke. The problem is categorization. We know what RAP is and we kow what ROCK is. Why? Because the commercial music indusrty needs definitions to say that THEIR arist is at the top of the Country charts or at #4 on the R&B charts. The more categories that can be defined, the better chance to claim commercial success. However, just because it is popular, can you really say that RAP is NOTthe contemporary folk music of the underprivelliged in the inner cities? Is it not a relative of the Blues? I suspect that "FOLK" music will never be defined because the definition is, like the music itself, is constantly changing. Have faith. If a peformer says he/she is a "folk" mudician. then believe it,