The core, for me, in any song, is being able to communicate the song.   It doesn't matter if you strum lightly or fingerpick faster than blazes; the technique is only there to support this rare and wonderful act of communication that old songs bring.

I find that songs, if you let them, will teach you how best they should be sung because they have an internal dynamic, imposed long ago, to which you have to resonate in recreating them. When this is done well, it penetrates and energizes the listener, it evokes the imagery and emotion of the original.   This is a wonderful thing to see happen, or to experience, or to make happen.

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