So what!?

To me the sound of a song includes every aspect of it's presentation: Tune, accent, slang, poetry, intonation, cadence, pitch, etc. etc. It is the whole package. I am sometimes uncomfortable, though, when I realize I am conversing with someone who has a strong regional accent and I am mimicing them. It is unconscious, really, and it is the result of having trained my "ear" to pick up as much audio information as possible because I can't read music.

I think that musicians, especially "folk" musicians, are natural mimics. I don't think it is disrespectful or phoney.

Mike Seeger works to present the music he performs as authentically as possible, is HE a phoney? Maybe he should just haul around his huge collection of recorded music and sit on stage and play songs through a amplifier. He could have a display of various musical instruments on stage and point to each one in turn as the songs were presented.

I'd rather watch and listen to him. It is less cumbersome.

If you're not a moonshiner, gambler, murderer, outlaw, drunkard, hog farmer, heartsick lover, coal miner, dying cowboy, soldier, union organizer, or prostitute, you dassent sing their songs?

When you work to become an entertainer, you must develope a complete "package". Dylan, Sting, Donovan, Muddy Waters, Sleepy John Estes, and the music world is full of creative invention at all levels. Are the "Boys" really "of the Lough"?

CB