"A song that has a plot" is the original sense pf the term; it was only latterly that it became corrupted to me torch song, love song, or any of the other opinions flying around posing as definitions.

Modern ballads? "Darcy Farrow" is a wonderful example of a ballad that captures the ambience of much older music. So does Annie Cooke's "Plain White Shift". There are hundreds of good ones out there, and the modernity of them depends on how you are measuring -- some people would count anything laster than the Renaissance as Modern! :>)

A