McGrath... said,"Surely it doesn't count if it's the name of the imagined character being portrayed, nor the name of the songwriter, if that's not the singer?"
to which Elmore replied, "McGrath: Not sure what your posting references."

I thought that he meant some of the examples given like, "My name it is Sam Hall..." where Sam Hall is just a character and not te actual name of the singer. I seem to recall Johnny Cash singing this one.

Or perhaps since MacPherson's Lament is being sung from the Gallows, I doubt we ever hear MacPherson actually singing the song. He's a character in the song.

I believe Leadbelly was looking for a song where the actual singer used his own name.