Well, I stick with my voice, and I do dialects and accents when appropriate. I've been doing it since the early 1950s in coffeehouses, concerts, and on television, and I've never had anyone react to it negatively. In fact, a few people have commented on how naturally I seen to be able to do it. But most people don't even notice, because it goes with the song itself, and it would sound peculiar if I didn't do it.

What gravels me is when some city kid who has a perfectly nice sounding singing voice naturally, and who wants to be a "folk singer," does his damnedest to sound like he's eighty years old, toothless, and just rode into town with a load of parsnips. That's faking. That sort of thing is what's phony. I heard that a lot in the 1960s, and by a few "big names," too!

I watch a fair amount of British dramas and comedies on my local PBS channels—"Masterpiece Theatre," "Mystery," and various "Brit-coms." I have seen American characters being played on some of these shows and, at the time, was thoroughly convinced that the character was indeed an American. Then, I find out later that the actor who played the role was British. And in their normal speech, they sounded British, not American. They had "faked" a "generic" American accent so well that they brought the role off convincingly. If they can manage that, then I'd say "mission accomplished."

The same goes for accents and dialects in singing. One can sing in one's own natural voice and, at the same time, adopt a dialect or accent, the same as the actor does. Actually, in intention, there is not that much difference between singing and acting, and unless one confines oneself to a very narrow category of songs or roles, the ability to do accents and dialects well is an essential part of a performer's tool kit.

Again, if a person can do it well, then fine. But if they can't, then they'd better leave it alone.

Don Firth