Bob, reading through articles in JAFL, I frequently run across comments reading somewhat like this: "I obtained a version of 95 lines...," followed by a small selection, or reference to a shorter published version.
Buried in some dusty archive, or perhaps lost if the author's papers were not preserved, are many long versions, which, as you say, were typical of the pre-radio-phonograph days and truly the 'roots' of the 'folk' versions most of us know.
Editors demanding brevity or conformity to 'proper speech' (such as W. W. Newell who censored American dialects and rural forms), and collectors who failed to recognize the significance of their sources, have contributed to the loss of much that was folk.