Ron, you may be thinking of Sharyn McCrumb, a North Carolina novelist who has written a series of "ballad novels". I do not think she used the ballad names in her titles, but each of the novels revolves, in some way around a particular ballad. Usually the ballad in question is a an actual song. One of the series, Songcatcher, I believe, involves a fictitious ballad created for the purposes of the book. I have read only one of the series and do hope to read more.