Contemporary folk music refers to a wide variety of genres that emerged in the mid 20th

century and afterwards which were associated with traditional folk music. Starting in the
mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This
process and period is called the (second) folk revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s.
The most common name for this new form of music is also "folk music", but is often called
"contemporary folk music" or "folk revival music" to make the distinction.[1] The transition
was somewhat centered in the US and is also called the American folk music revival.
Fusion genres such as folk rock, folktronica, and others also evolved within this
phenomenon. While contemporary folk music is a genre generally distinct from traditional
folk music, it often shares the same English name, performers and venues as traditional
folk music; even individual songs may be a blend of the two.
While the Romantic nationalism of the folk revival had its greatest influence on art-music,
the "second folk revival" of the later 20th century brought a new genre of popular
music with artists marketed through concerts, recordings and broadcasting. One of the
earliest figures in this revival was Woody Guthrie, who sang traditional songs in the 1930s
and 1940s as well as composing his own. In the United Kingdom, the folk revival fostered a
generation of singer-songwriters such as Donovan, who achieved initial prominence in the
1960s. The folk revival spawned Canada's first true wave of internationally successful
artists such as Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and Buffy Sainte-Marie.