The oral tradition is changing, even as it is being re-claimed. Some would argue that the changes are all for the worst. It's no longer the purely front porch, yarn-spinnin' genre that it once was. The new breed of teller is likely to have a manager handling his performance gigs, recording contracts, and a full schedule of coaching workshops. But, oral tradition has always been a changing thing.
Stories never stay the same, because they arent't written.
Even if they are written down in this era, the written record of the story is used infrequently by the teller. If storytelling is taking on new forms now in the world of multi-media, hopefully, there will be more attention paid to the art form and the traditions therein. There are several types of stories used in storytelling as we know it today. Not that we want to over analyze this living, breathing art, but we need to re-acquaint ourselves with the basics of storytelling that were taught to our forefathers along with how to eat and walk. Storytelling organizations exist now to aid in our re-discovery of storytelling with their storytelling publications and their storytelling workshops .