Murkey Chris - you could do a lot worse than taking a look at Allan Taylor's PhD thesis on a similar subject:-

SONG, SONGWRITING AND THE SONGWRITER IN THE ENGLISH FOLK REVIVAL
PhD Thesis, Queen's University of Belfast, May 1993

It's an examination of how a contemporary songwriter works and, of course, touches on the authenticity of contemporary songwriting in the context of the folk revival.

Cheers
Shepherdlass