For me, the tradition is a living entity. The song, 30ft trailer,[ AKA the Aold ways are dying, is it not? ]Was written by one of our own. A man who understood the ways of our people. Whether it was written 50yrs ago or 500 it is a part of the stream. and it is written and sung in A traditional style.IMO

I personally dont write extra verses to a song, that perhaps is a bit too short, I just repeat a verse. But perhaps in future I might try it out.For me,the beauties of singing traditional ballads, which are all I know, Is that;1 they are great songs, 2 they are often songs that sing of thing we can relate to. 3 that my friends and fellow travellers also know many of these songs To sing them together when we meet up and pull in to a fresh site is a great feeling. To write new words kind of defeats part of that, until/unless they are generally adopted.

There are new folk songs that are making the rounds, written these past years. Adopted by travellers and folk musicians alike, they sing of the theft of the land. Freedom and oppression, age old motifs that defy time and place. Long may they do so.

I am not an academic, but I have great respect for those that are. Together we can preserve and refresh the traditional music that we know and love.