Andy7, I usually find that the songs I want to learn / sing are ones that have captivated me when someone else has performed them.
It might be a song I already know or have heard before, but sometimes a certain person's rendition just grabs me, and I have to learn it.
But - not to sing it the way they do, no matter how wonderful I think their voice is (Gordeanna McCulloch, Jean Redpath, Heather Heywood, Jeannie Robertson etc)- I need to make the song my own.
- Singing a ballad is not about you as a singer, it is about the story, the history - you have to be immersed in it, understand it, see the events as they occur - you are a vehicle for the song, and people should remember the song and what it recounted rather than the singer - imho!