A couple of events in this area underlined the complexity of the 'belief' of some singers.
We were recording a wonderful singer named Tom Lenihan one night; he'd just sung a song and he burst out at the end, "That's a true song".
When we asked him where and when he thought it had taken place he looked puzzled and said "Do you think it really happened?"
"Truth", in Tom's case meant something different
A friend recorded a fiddle player who had a rake of fairy stories, many of them connected with the tunes.
Later, over a cup of tea, he asked the player and his wife, "Do you believe in fairies?"
His wife replied, a little indignant "Of course not, but they're there all right".
MacColl used to tell of the time when they recorded tales from a number of Travelling women who were staying with them.
The women got into a run of supernatural tales, one trying to outdo the others until, by the end of the evening they refused to walk the few yards down the hall to the toilet unless somebody came with them.
One of the most moving pieces of storytelling I have ever heard is a recording of a Scots Travelling woman describing the the death of her youngest daughter, who died when she was jagged by a piece of rusty wire while they were camped by the side of a quarry.
It starts as straightforward description and turns into an account of omens, premonitions and birds flying into the campfire - still brings a lump to my throat when I think of it.
Jim Carroll