I thoroughly agree with Nick Dow's post. his kind of folk song arrangement isn' to my taste either, but it's worth remembering that we have no idea how these songs might have been sung in 1750 or 1850, especially bearing in mind that some were written for stage performance and may well have been performed in some kind of theatrical style. Although many of us lovers of traditional song enjoy and even venerate the singing of Phil Tanner, Sam Larner or Pheobe Smith, there is nothing to say that theirs are the only valid styles.

And i's no as if the folk revival hasn't also taken enormous liberties with the material in terms of both arrangement and singing style, and I can think of quite a few revival performers who sound as dissimilar to Harry Cox as any art music tenor. It's a matter of taste, not high principle.