Another vexed question, to which some have entrenched attitudes. Many will say that you shouldn't sing in an accent which isn't your own .I wonder how they feel about actors doing this. I've been singing Scots songs for so long that I don't really think about it. I use as much of an accent as seems necessary to make sense of the dialect words. Sometimes this means hardly any accent at all. But if there is a lot of strong dialect, then it needs thinking about. What I aim for is for the song to sound OK to a Scot; that is that they are not made painfully aware that it's being sung by a non-Scot. Accents will vary considerably, even within a small geographical area; so that different people within that area will sing the same words quite differently. Listen to some Scots singers. Do they sound as Scottish singing as they do talking? Very often not. And yet the dialect words sound natural. So it's not necessary to pile it on. With Irish songs, I don't consciously make any attempt to use an Irish accent, because it doesn't seem necessary. American songs perhaps need a little bit of an accent, but no need to pile it on. Geordie songs? ....now that's a bit more tricky.
I think in general a lot depends on your own accent. If yu have a strong regional accent, you may be best sticking to songs from your own region, unless you can unlearn your own accent. And R.P.? Get rid of it. It's just wrong.
Light blue touch paper and retire.
John Kelly.