Harvey,
I did not say that I totally agreed with the people who have that antipathy, but I did say that I don't blame them feeling protective of something so fragile as our traditional music and customs. I had a great deal of suspicion and antipathy aimed at me when I started writing my own stuff. I had a very depressing conversation with Rose Kemp when I was on the Oysterband Big Session tour: basically her choice of material (her own) has put her in the line of fire from some very hardline people. She has quite literally had older folkie people approaching her since she was a young teenager asking her in effect "who do you think you are to perform your own songs, why do you think you are better than the tradition?". I wholly disagree with these bigots and wish they would have had some subtlety in dealing with a young performer; they have put her off the folk scene for life by making her feel so worthless and unwelcome. I think, paradoxically, that they mean well, and as I say, I understand them, but I don't agree with them as a rule.
Just to clarify..
cheers,
eliza x