Jim,
Traditional singers such as Bob Lewis,FredJordan[30 years old],Jeff Wesley,Bob and Ron Copper, George Spicer,Gordon Hall,Harry Cox[ 47 Years old] ,Geoff Ling 57 years old,CyrilPoacher 63,Packie Byrne[47] Jack Elliot [birtley]62 years old,Bob Roberts[50yearsold]Sarah Makem 55 years old, Margaret Barry 35 yearsold , were not elderly when first recorded,none of these were past their best,lacked breath control or simply had not sung for years,In fact Jeff Wesley,and Bob Lewis are still singing very well.,
So I am not prepared to rethink my answer.
FolkieDave, Peter Kennedy was busy recording before 1953,he recorded Margaret Barry and FredJordan in 1952 and the Coppers in 1951.
Jim many revival singers object to their own Compositions being used without their permission[see bloggers thread],this has absoloutely nothing to do with traditional songs,and is another one of your Red herrings,designed to muddy the waters,and add confusion to the debate.
your last line sums up my point,collectors go out and collect traditional singers not revivalists,because they make a value judgement,revivalists are not worth collecting,not because they are not good enough,but because they dont have the right label.
Bob Blake [revivalist] was only collected because the collector Mike Yates,made a mistake.