"I gather this is restricted to British-tradition ballads and not American murder ballads from other traditions"

Not necessarily. I do want to talk about American murder ballads as many of them are based on true events.

Gargoyle, bless you, but I'm not that young, and I've been studying my subject matter for a number of years. Probably not as long as many of you, but I'm hardly wet behind the ears.

Reggie Miles --- I would like to be able to include some modern songs as an example of how traditional ballads continue to influence songwriting/storytelling in the present day.

It will all get whittled down in the process.