songsmith: I was born in Yorkshire, lived in Newcastle for seven years, then North Kent for another five and have now lived on the North Kent/South London border for more than 15 years. If I am singing a song from any of those areas I am quite happy for my accent to become more Geordie, or whatever, and if the rhyme, for example, depends on the dialect pronunciation I will certainly stick to it.

Songs from other areas are more of a problem and if I sang a Dorset song, for example, I'd always use my natural accent (mongrel though it is!)