The term was coined by David Keenan in the issue 234 (August 2003) of The Wire, following the Brattleboro Free Folk Festival organized by Matt Valentine and Ron J.
The festival included Dredd Foole, Sunburned Hand of the Man, MV & EE, all members of Charalambides in different configurations, Jack Rose, Chris Corsano, Joshua, and Paul Flaherty –– most of whom operated out of the Pioneer Valley area.
"[9] Adding, "ask any of these musicians where the initial energising spark for the New Weird America came from and they'll point you right back to Dredd Foole's epochal 1994 solo album, In Quest of Tense.
"[10] This largely underground scene, which also incorporated musicians from outside the region, including Six Organs of Admittance and Charalambides, was generally referred to as Free Folk, as named by Matt Valentine.
Wrote Keenan: Mostly based outside of the major US cities, disparate, culturally disenfranchised cells have begun to telegraph between each other, forming alliances via limited handmade releases and a vast subterranean network of samizdat publications, musician- and fan-run labels and distributors like Apostacy, Child of Microtones, Eclipse, Ecstatic Yod, Fusetron, Qbico, Seres, Siwa, Sound@One, Spirit of Orr, Time-Lag, U-Sound, Vhf and Wholly Other.