Hey, Mike:

I think a singer caNn relate to a good traditional song, even if it's about a time and a culture they have no direct experience with.
I can think of many traditional songs that sing about working a mule or going to a dance at the VFW Hall that speak to me. The first song that comes to mind is The Spring of '65.

"I woke up one morning in the Spring of '65
I thought myself quite likely to be found alive
I geared up my mule, my business to pursue
Instead of hauling four loads, I only hauled two.

Ever had a morning like that? Maybe you didn't get drunk in a barn from drinking and dancing all night, and you don't know one end of a mule from the other, but I bet you've felt that way. Maybe you only fixed two washing machines instead of four

"Come all you newsy women who scatter news about
Don't tell no tales upon us, we're bad enough without
Don't tell no tales upon us, or kick up any fuss
You've been guilty of the same thing, perhaps a whole lot worse.

Know any "newsy" women? or for a woman, know any "newsy" men?

Or what ab out,
Take out the paper and the trash
Or you don't get no spending cash
And tell you hoodlum friends outside
You ain't got time to take a ride

Yakey, Yak
Don't talk back

I imagine a kid working on a one mule farm who wanted to go out fishing with his buddies felt just the same when his mother told him he had to finish plowing the lower forty.

As Leadbelly said in the introduction to Fannin' Street, "Folks is folks, sure enough."

I understand what you're saying though, Mike. I'm not comfortable singing ballads about people who wear shiny pants and dainty little shoes. :-)