RIchard:

I think there is a subtle distinction in singing a song that has a distinct dialectical origin. I don't think of myself as imitating Missippi sharecroppers when I sing blues, but I feel right at home giving such a number my own bluesy intonation, very different from the way I would talk on a business conference with a banker. Similarly I don't like those who overtly pretend to be Irish once a year, but it seems natural enough to slip into a broguish lilt when I am doing a song that only means what it does because of its Irish provenance, such as RIsing of the Moon, the Boy from Killairn, or Jug O' Punch. Mick Lane can roar with a Midwestern twang when he is arm-wrestling with a company rep, but when he does DUblin in the Good Auld Days, the same thing happens to him, and it never sounds artificial or affected--and therein lies the difference. I do not believe that there is anything condescending about the former; it is more of a rejoicing in the original voice.

A

Unaffected coloration is part of the art in my opinion, and the difference between it and clumsy affectation of accents is important.