Malcolm

Thanks again for your well argued post. I'm very sorry that we appear to have cross-posted.

I'm not sure how responsible Child was for a resurgence of interest in folk music, I think it was already there before him and I await evidence that he had any real influence in that direction.

As regards C20th collectors, it's certainly true to say that Vaughan Williams (for example) was mainly interested in the music and, of course, in broadside ballads about which he was something of an expert. Child treated the songs which passed through his hands as texts only, so he can't be credited with any influence in that direction. I'm really not very sure, either, if not knowing about Child would have prevented people like Sharp from collecting folk songs either. Their excitement came from discovering something real out in the world.

What I said about ballads wasn't intended to be in criticism of Child, but rather in reply to your point that Child didn't miss out many ballads (as opposed to folk songs). By his own definition, of course, he didn't ...

I'd dispute that very many of Child's texts were that obscure or even inaccessible (see my figures above).

Of course people have always used books etc. as sources for songs, but most people have always had access to plenty of materials (for example broadsides) at relatively cheap prices. Most of your "folk singers" in the C19th wouldn't have had access to copies of Child.

BTW, singers are still singing and we don't know about it. People not knowing has never yet prevented it happening and sometimes the opposite (take, for example, the effect on "The Ship" singers of Lomax's 1953 film).

:-)
Ian