"but unfortunately for most of the 20th century many have treated it as a definitive work, particularly across the pond"
Yet the best of scholarship has come from across the pond, starting with Child
"I occasionally see the odd ballad suggested by enthusiasts but I haven't recently seen much academic interest in this."
My point exactly
As far back as the 1950s, Ewan and Bert issued a whole album of ballads not included in Child - the term "ballad" refers to a specific type of song, not the collection of one scholar.
long Irish ballads like 'Farmer Michael Hayes' never made it into Child, but they use the ballad form.
"'There are no extant Celtic Child Ballads'"
Has Joe Heaney been dead that long?
He sang an Irish language of Child 74 and I'm pretty sure Hugh Shields included one in his one of his anthologies.
"Extant" is a peculiar word - most of the Child ballads are no longer to be found in the tradition and we still haven't got to the bottom of the Travellers repertoire.
"Good luck"
Me too Gavin - but ballad nerds will be nerds.
Jim Carroll