The music that we now loosely term 'folk' has always been largely dissident, in that it was conceived and performed outside the 'establishment'. The fact that folk now has its own (at times reactionary) establishment is something I find rather saddening. So, for me, anything that gets the label 'dissident' is at least worth a listen - personal preferences and critical faculties must then come into play. To dismiss it out of hand is, I think, the same as saying that classical music or jazz is crap.

"I was pretty much over Tolkien (and all the attendant whimsy) by age 13."

Ruth, I assume you mean Lord of the Rings - his work on Early and Middle English language and literature, especially Beowulf, is seminal.