Whitby Folk Festival has had a daily ballad singing concert for many years -- a great opportunity to hear versions from other parts of the UK of songs that you might already know from your own area.

Like many here, I sing a lot of ballads and each of them is as long as (I think) it needs to be; some are twenty+ verses, like Musgrave or The Battle of Harlaw, while others like Lamkin, The Great Silkie, Lizzie Wan etc, are in the mid-teens, and the first ballad I ever learned has only 5 verses - The Twa Corbies. Even if someone miraculously found a long-lost manuscript that produced verses for the betrayed husband being urged to go hunting by his treacherous wife, the confab. between the adulteress and her lover with her encouragements and enticements, the lover's ambush and taunting of the husband before slaying him, the widow's welcome for the lover etc. -- I wouldn't want to know, because the 5 verses give me enough to go on and I can fill in the back story as best suits me.

If Phil is still looking for suggestions, what about Chevy Chase/Otterburn? (Though sometimes having to provide a bit of historical background can suck the drama out of such songs….)