Niles Cebter, a valuable post! May I suggest that JJN had conflicting feelings about his relationship to the songs? As he says in the Ballad Book, he insisted upon his authorship of certain songs because he really had dug them (or their originals) up himself without any foundation assistance and after great personal effort. On the other hand, he wished to identify himself completely with a romanticized Appalachian "Scotch Irish" tradition as both a performer and a collector. These motives are not entirely consistent, but who among us is?

I wonder what you think of his printed versions of "Judas," something of a test case, to me. PM me if you like. I'd like to examine the question further.