>My interest in folk has always been largely anthropological in
>nature but for a range of reasons, I've never been able to
>forge an emotional connection with it.

Not unusual at all, especially when as you mention below our earliest familiarity with traditional songs presents them in disposable ways that you're supposed to outgrow. I was thinking of your comments this morning as my 9 month old's 'music table' belched out a pre-programmed 'Turkey In the Straw.' More on this later.

I've always been a folk fan and have always been drawn particularly to traditional stuff. But even when I was first exposed to the recordings of traditional music from the '20s, my reaction was 'man, this is painful to listen to, but at least I can use it for good source material.'

Obviously since then those old records have grown on me enormously, but to these days I still frequently prefer *interpretations* of traditional ballads to the actual recordings of traditional ballad singers. As we've discussed before one of the things I love the most about folk music is the preeminence of the song, and how it fluidly survives and mutates and resurfaces in other parts of the world and in other versions. A few weeks back I posted about how delighted I was to find Jean Richie's 'Hangman,' a version of the trad 'The Maid Freed From the Gallows' and sung more famously by Leadbelly and Led Zeppelin as 'Gallows Pole.' It's a bit like a mystery or a puzzle, putting together the history and whatnot. I'm kinda glad I didn't choose to get my phd in that stuff, but it's fun as hell as a hobbyist.