Problem....lyric writing is becoming a lost art. Much of it in contemporary songwriting
is slip-shod, poorly crafted and brimming with preachy generalities.

The beauty of folk song is that the lyrics are concise, trenchant, pared-down and basically the way people of the time speak. They are also highly descriptive without being verbose or abstruse. In short, they communicate. Sometimes they need footnotes if the references are dated.

Folk-like songs usually follow the model of a traditional folk song in the lyric.

Usually, the songs tell a story that's coherent. Sometimes a text is collated from different variants. This is done to keep the story in tact.

A songwriter can write a "folk-like" song and if he/she is good, it can sound authentic.
Usually, that songwriter should have some acquaintance with traditional folk song lyrics to
sound sincere. Or you could write songs like they did in "A Mighty Wind".

Frank Hamilton