'Fraid the CD hasn't got here yet Rick - but I'm sure looking forward to getting it. I'll PM you as soon as it does.
You may be pointing me towards an answer to my question - I don't really have a firm opinion. It's a fair point that the personal song is part and parcel of the folk tradition. What could be more directly personal than Mississippi John Hurt's, "Lonesome is I/Wish I could die/Nobody cares for me"? There's a good helping of self pity in there too - although with MJH I get the feeling that there is more than a little self mockery going on. In fact in his case, I'm sure it's the shaft of humour that carries it for me. Most modern songwriters would make me cringe if they sang something similar.
For sure sex can get me interested in almost anything - a fact not overlooked by advertisers...
I don't know Harvey Andrew's songs so well, but I would say that Jerry's songs tend to be about people who he knows rather than himself. I think they are the very opposite of what I was referring too. (I also think they are great).