I have to wonder whether those who insist on this need for change are being self-serving. They seem to be in somewhat indecent haste for that change to proceed. Perhaps that is a source of pressure for some. He points, in contrast, to the world of classical music, where most of the music played and recorded is neither contemporary nor innovative. I'm not suggesting that folk singing should ignore changes, but I do think it should be slow to take them on board, and even slower to give them a permanent berth.
Evolution is generally a slow process.
If we think of folk singing as music, then it is automatically open to a huge range of influences and fashions. Folk singing is grown up. Most progress turns out to be digress, and it joins previous digressions, now effectively extinct, such as Cecil Sharp's choral arrangements, those people who used to sing Musket, Fife and Drum on Children's Favourites, and folk rock. And we don't have to think of folk singing as music. But if we think of folk singing as words and stories rather than music, then the range of influences is much smaller.