We (Gordeanna McCulloch, Ronnie Clark and myself) have been running a Ballad Workshop in Glasgow for the past two years -- and it's deeply cheering and very heart-warming to report that we have a loyal and committed following who want to sing unaccompanied Child ballads.
And particularly interesting to us is that a very good proportion of our regulars are young! (Under 30, for those who want to know....)

We start from the principle that we should have an understanding of the narrative, as these are story songs; we may choose to add or delete verses according to personal preference; we work on a basic version of a chosen tune so that we can tweak it to fit the text, or tweak the text to fit the tune; and all the time we're aiming for a convincing version of a good story.

Could I just add that I'm entirely in agreement with John Moulden, and with Stringsinger -- it's the singer's commitment that makes a connection with a listener, not necessarily a pitch-perfect voice.