Now now, let's not jump to conclusions based on an article.   I've heard people doing some beautiful traditional music and they call themselves "anti-folk".   We have too many labels!!

From what I've gathered, the anti-folk music developed as a reaction to closed doors from "established" open mics. It was felt that the singer-songwriter movement that began in the late 70's had "softened" the genre. Instrumentation and song subjects in anti-folk are not necessarily responding to preconceived notions.

Check out this article:
article

I'm not giving this a wholesale endorsement. Many of the artists I've heard I would not play on my program because of personal tastes. However I do admire and respect their style.

Ron