"What harm in comparing ewan and jeannies version of a song, "
Jim -
I've always had a problem with this, especially after working with source-singers
They are not from our 'folkie' world - in fat they are our benefactors and we are the recipients of their generosity
I would never expect the same from them as I would from a revival singer so I would be hesitant to compare the two
Totally agree. It is like comparing an apple with an orange. They are both enjoyable fruit but they come from totally different trees

I loved Jeannies's singing but I have problems with it
Shortly after she was discovered, researchers began praising her for she slow, dignified delivery - she began to slow her songs down further to live up to the image - too slow, in my opinion
Later in life she developed asthmatic problems which created a gappiness in her singing that had not been there in the early days - (I find Jeannie's 'Gypsy Laddy an example of that)
Jeanie is one of my all time favourites and I relish the hours that I spent in her company. There is very little criticism of her that I can go along with apart from the fact that in her later years she sang her ballads too slowly. Her early recordings made by Alan Lomax are superb.

Fot me, the worst done to Jeannie's singing was when Robin Hall persuaded her to allow him to accompany her - the Collector EP just didn't work for me - a case of two worlds colliding
Now, Isabel Sutherland told me decades ago that Robin was called on to dub his accompaniment on to Jeanie's unaccompanied recordings on those two EPs. She said that Robin told her that he was being asked to do an impossible task. Why was it done? Well, an accompanied song can then be labelled Trad. arr by.... which has implications for royalties.
Who did this? Well, it was the same person who booked a studio for Isabel to record an album. When she got to the studio, she was suprised to see another prominent figure from the early revival sitting there with his guitar, Steve Benbow.
"Hello, Steve. What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to accompany your songs. I thought it had all been arranged."
"No, you're bloody not" said one of Edinbugh's finest as she stomped out of the studio.
Who was behind all this? I don't think that it would be that difficult to guess.