Eliza I find your antipathy to British "singer-songwriters" depressing.
McColl, Tawney, McTell, Garbutt,Bogle,Caddick,etc, etc. surely they have graced the folk music scene of the past 40 years?
Why do you feel the need to defend the shunning of their contribution and to consign them to the dustbin.
Every folk song was written by a singer/songwriter at some time in history. Songs are not written by committee and do not appear from thin air. Surely someone who understands British traditions and history should write the songs for our generations that are not just Tin Pan Alley "lurve" songs?
Believe me as a writer of song stories about the lives of "ordinary" people for 40 years it is just as difficult to get a platform as it is for a purely traditional performer.
Or does the term "singer-songwriter" now mean something different to you than it does to me and my generation?
I think those I've named above have made a massive contribution to the body of British song. So what are we supposed to call them and do you count their contribution and that of others of their ilk as naught?