I think most of these posts miss the original point being made in the interview (I love Joan Baez, just to be clear). The original point was that folk singers Joe Heaney is referring too have a quality which is akin to a drone, exemplified by the odd phrasing at the beginning of a verse, so as to keep the song going even when the singer is not singing (if I can put it that way). I think that is interesting as a comment on the kind of thing Heaney was looking for in a trad singer.

yours,

Peter T.