A disagreement with Pip's post above: the 'nu-folk scene' (or whatever you want to call it) has been chugging along quite nicely in its own parallel (to the 'official'* folk scene) universe for at least five years. Ages ranges of those in the audiences and on the stage range from teens to forties, with most in the mid twenties to mid thirties range. Anecdotally - according to some of the older players - it has led to a sizeable increase in people attending local gigs by relative unknowns playing acoustic music. If its just a 'fashion' it's showing remarkable staying power: I suspect, like the 'official' folk scene, though, it will ebb and flow. It has some crossover with the official folk scene and some crossover with the indie/alternative scene, but essentially is very much its own thing. It's mainly singer songwriter stuff and small groups but with less of the sensitive navel gazing stuff and more influences from psychedelia, acid folk, avant rock, american folk, blues and alt-country. You even occasionally hear the odd traditional song. Rather than seeing it as something to sneeringly dismiss as 'fashion' (come on, Pip, you're better than that!), I believe it's something to celebrate - even if the music itself and the trad qotient isn't to your taste. Personally - lack of trad notwithstanding - I find much of what I hear from the nu-folk/Green Man/whatever scene far more to my tastes than the non-trad folk music I hear on the official folk scene.

However, I suspect it will continue to exist in isolation from the official scene except a few acts who break into official folk festivals via reviews in fRoots etc and a few clubs that crossover between the two scenes (the Magpie's Nest et al)... I don't even think most of the acts and audience are even particularly aware of the official folk scene or that arsed about it. Which, of couurse, is entirely as it should be. I might start a thread linking to some of these people: it would act as a refreshing palate cleanser.

* By official, of course, I mean the sort of "designated folk contexts" understood to be such on Mudcat: clubs, festivals, singarounds etc.