This is a wonderful read; I missed it first time around. It does remind me of the fantastic story "Music, When Soft Voices Die" by Sharyn McCrumb in "The Rose and the Briar." The stock characters in most folk songs envisioned as eternal actors that perform the song in the minds of the performer and audience whenever a ballad is sung. The initial scene where "Jack" and "Dear Little Girl" act out a bar scene; after initially being afraid it was "El Paso" again and he'd have to be shot, Jack sees the Dear Little Girl:

"She was sloe-eyed and golden-skinned, with the gleaming body of a dancer. She was . . . well, she was Halle Berry." It seems that the singer knew what a "Yellow Rose of Texas" really was! I REALLY recommend that everyone read this story -- its worth getting the whole book (worthy for all the other essays there!) for.