Delighted to hear how well Brian's ballad show is doing with varied audiences, and very interesting too to read the crit. from a non-trad. reviewer with a great pair of ears and an open mind!
It's not surprising when you appreciate how much knowledge and experience he brings to the project as well as passion and a prodigious work ethic. And, of course, he knows -- as many of us singing ballads know -- that a well-chosen ballad can take audience members back to the memory of "sitting at the storyteller's knee", whatever their age, in less cynical times.
More power to your elbow, Brian, and perhaps the rest of us should jettison the fear that an audience wouldn't know what to do with a ballad, burnish up the goodies in our repertoire and proudly put the songs back out there, trusting our listeners to get involved.
Mind you, it raises a lot of issues about the quality of our performance in these circumstances -- but I suspect that's an entirely different thread!