I'm wih you, whistlestop. While I care deeply about the old songs and approach them in the way that is most meaningful for me, everyone pursues them in their own way. I love the songs, but they are not sacred to me. I really liked what Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps did with Frankie & Johnnie many years ago. It rocked out, but it was still Frankie & Johnnie.

In my mind, you've made the ultimate distinction in approaching old songs... do them in a way that allows you to "make a deeper personal connection with the song." If you sing the song exactly as it was recorded, imitating the vocal timbre and dialect of the musician, let me know when you're finished so I can come back in the room. If you change a song beyond recognition, I'll approach it for what it has become. Just make some acknowledgement that it's an old song, and that you've changed it to make it your own.

Dang, think I'll sit down right now and rewrite Barbara Allen and make it Bobby Joe Allen with a rousing chorus to sing in a bar!

Jerry