Anti-folk (sometimes antifolk or unfolk) is a music genre that takes the earnestness of politically charged 1960s folk music and subverts it. The defining characteristics of this anti-folk are difficult to identify, as they vary from one artist to the next. Nonetheless, the music tends to sound raw or experimental; it also generally mocks seriousness and pretension in the established mainstream music scene.

Anti-folk was begun by artists unable to gain gigs at established folk venues in Greenwich Village, including Folk City and The Speakeasy. Soon after, singer-songwriter Lach started The Fort, an after-hours club, on the Lower East Side, after a booker at Folk City told him his music was "too punk." The Fort's opening coincided with the New York Folk Festival, so Lach dubbed his own event the New York Antifolk Festival. Other early proponents of the movement included Cindy Lee Berryhill, Brenda Kahn, Paleface, Beck, Michelle Shocked, and John S. Hall.Roger Manning, Kirk Kelly, Sander Hicks, and Block were also early anti-folk artists.

Jeffrey Lewis (born November 20, 1975 in New York City) is an American singer/songwriter and comic book artist.

Lewis attended State University of New York at Purchase and graduated in 1997 with a degree in Literature. His Senior Literary Thesis was on the comic book Watchmen.

Lewis also lectured on the topic of Watchmen at the Institute For Cultural Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 2000, and the text of his lecture ("The Dual Nature of Apocalypse in Watchmen") was published in the book The Graphic Novel, edited by Jan Baetens, in 2001.

Starting in 2000, he spent about 2 years living in Austin, Texas, playing open mic nights, working odd jobs and distributing his autobiographical comics to local coffee shops.

Several of his musical influences have been acknowledged in his songs such as "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror", "The History of The Fall" and "The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song", concerning the song by Leonard Cohen. Lewis' lyrics are complex and literate, often combining a nihilistic world-view with a hopeful message and sharp wit. Growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan Island his songs are also highly informed by his home surroundings, with songs name-dropping places such as Williamsburg, the FDR Drive and the East River.

Kimya Dawson (born November 17, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter, best known as a solo performer and as one half of The Moldy Peaches. In Swahili, "Kimya" (كيميا) means "silence" or "silent".

Dawson became well known as Adam Green's counterpart in The Moldy Peaches. Since the Moldy Peaches went on hiatus in 2004 Dawson has released a string of lo-fi homemade albums and toured widely in North America and Europe.

Kimya's most recent album is "Thunder Thighs", released in October 2011. It contains collaborations with Aesop Rock on songs such as "The Library" and "Walk Like Thunder" and Pablo Das on "Unrefined".

Dawson's children's album, Alphabutt, was released on September 9, 2008. Song titles include "The Alphabutt Song," "Seven Hungry Tigers," "Little Monster Babies," "Wiggle My Tooth" and "Pee Pee in the Potty," and collaborators include former Third Eye Blind guitarist Kevin Cadogan and a number of Dawson's other musical friends and their children. She has also been invited to participate in the Sesame Street television program.

Filthy Pedro is an antifolk musician based in London. Born Simon Parry in Anglesey, Wales, he moved to London in the late 90s. Parry had grown interested in antifolk after hearing Beck's 'Stereopathic Soulmanure' album (1994). However, it was only after a trip to New York's Sidewalk Cafe (where Beck had first come to prominence) in 2001 that he thought a similar movement should be created in London.

Similar to Lach, the New York based musician/promoter who first started booking 'antifolk' shows at various venues in New York City after finding himself unwelcome at more traditional venues, Parry founded a similar movement in London in 2002, taking the stagename Filthy Pedro. He created the antifolk.co.uk website and soon after started a seasonal gig in London -- 'The Antifolk UK Fest' -- where unusual and like-minded songwriters could perform outside of the generic indie/rock scene. The 'antifolk movement' and its unorthodox practices (often booking people on its shows with a low-level of musical competence), started to attract some press attention in 2006, with Filthy Pedro a key interviewee.

Toby Goodshank is a musician and visual artist based out of New York City. In addition to his solo work, he performs regularly with New York City-based bands Double Deuce, the Tri-Lambs, and the Christian Pirate Puppets.

Toby Goodshank made his high-profile musical debut playing acoustic guitar in The Moldy Peaches. He has a prolific solo career, recording 14 albums in a five-year span and touring Europe with artists including Jeffrey Lewis and Kimya Dawson. He has since become a prominent voice in the underground NYC music scene.

Goodshank is also adept at pen-and-ink drawing, and usually designs packaging for his records. He has written a number of comics, and has designed merchandise and cover art for several other artists.

Goodshank's style, while usually centered around his solo guitar and singing abilities, draws from a variety of pop and underground art and musical influences and employs many instrumental textures. Unconventional song structures, humor, innuendo, and wordplay are staples of his music and artwork across the variety of forms they take.