A type of folk music that rejects or de-emphasises the conventions of traditional folk music and encourages stylistic or thematic innovation, often including rock, jazz and world idioms. While folk music has always purported to be a highly innovative form, given its late-coming into institutional circles and its ties to the 'common man' or ordinary people, progressive folk refers more narrowly to folk music that shies from an over abundance of nostalgia, tradition, and generic convention.

Progressive folk acts of note have been solo singer-songwriters such as Nick Drake in the UK and Joni Mitchell and Tim Buckley in the US and bands such as Pentangle and Clannad in the UK, while bands such as Fairport Convention are more usually categorised as folk-rock. Other artists who fit best in this category include John Fahey, Leo Kottke and Robbie Basho.