I didn't see the magazine article you refer to, so you might be right, but in the last decade, the then current artists playing in that style were referred to as "Wyrd Folk," not "Weird Folk." It incorporated the Anglo-Saxon concept of Wyrd, which loosely translates to Fate, but incorporates a whole lot more. It's possible that the music journalists weren't aware of the musical forebears, and felt the need to invent a new term to describe the music. Similarly, the term "New Weird America" was made up to describe American artists who were more or less ploughing this field, Devendra Banhart being the most visible. Again, these terms likely came into being because they must have viewed Psych-Folk to be bound to the Psychedelic Era only. (Or they didn't know the term at all.) Maybe Progressive Rock fans aren't the only ones who needlessly add layers of confusion to categorizing the music they love.
As for deviating from Trad Folk...That was done early and often, starting in the mid to late 60s.
Bookmarks