Joe,
Pleased to hear you managed to get a copy of Wimberly (Dover I presume?) - thought it was long gone. I hope you get as much use out of it as I do. In my opinion it is American folksong scholarship at it's very best.
On the other hand, Phillip's Barry's note to 'The Lakes of Col Fin', in 'New Green Mountain Songster', with its mermaids and magic islands, is an example of scholarship at its worst, endowing one of the most beautiful ballads of domestic tragedy with mystical nonsense.
I recently came across a piece (unfinished) I once wrote on how the 'folk' approach the supernatural; 'Things That Go Bump in The Ballads'. This was inspired by a a fascinating conversation we had with MacColl once, when I asked him how an agnostic like me should approach the singing of supernatural songs. His reply, for me, was proof of what a great singer he was.
Jim Carroll