hi,
The family is Irish a few generations back, but dad for a long time worked with Scots ballads, anglicising them. That was what they put him forward for the MBE for, apparently (the Scots, that is). People tend to see the family as performing only English stuff, when in fact the Watersons and MC always did a pretty eclectic mix of Brit and American material. Same thing with Kate really, people see it as English when in fact it's a mix (quite a Celtic-sounding mix to my ears, especially with John arranging and producing for so long and people like Mike Mcgoldrick playing.Nice though.). Could be an English trait, I suppose.
I'm not sure about the English songs having happy endings. I tend to sing the sad ones, where he's dead or drownded at the end, and I do do mainly English stuff, because I'm a nerd!
x cheers