Ron,
Walter's story of how he came to folk song is an interesting one.
He grew up in a family of singers who sang almost exclusively at home during harvest suppers and Christmas parties (his Uncle Billy sang occasionally at Agricultural Trades Union meetings, but this was very rare).
Although always interested in the songs, Walter only ever sang one song at these sessions, 'Dark Eyed Sailor', which he said 'nobody else wanted'.
By the time he came back from the war his uncle had died, so he decided to write down his family repertoire in exercise books. The earliest of these is dated 1949. He deliberately used the melodeon to memorise the tunes. His nephew, Roger Dixon, urged him to record himself, which he did, the tape finding its way to Bill Leader via Peter Bellamy. Most of his songs were intact, but those that weren't he filled out from printed texts given to him by friends in the revival. This 'filling in' was done extremely tastefully; that's why, I believe, they are so good. Probably 'Dark Arches' is the best example of these, which he had as 2 verses and a chorus.
We recently wrote an article on his approach to singing for a festschrift compiled in honour of Irish Collector Tom Munnelly which is now available on the OAC (Oidhreacht An Chláir) website.
Jim Carroll