Thanks for your reply. I just think that the best traditional singers assimilate material to their own style. For example, the Stewarts of Blair had many Irish songs in their repertoires but would have adapted them to their own Perthshire Traveller style rather than putting on Irish accents.

I believe that McColl's family roots were in Auchterarder. The Perthshire speech is obviously very different from Aberdeenshire, especially when filtered through Salford.