Thanks for posting that link, Brian. Most interesting. In fact, what I had heard was that MacColl was the one who instituted this policy, but what Peggy says clarifies what was going on at the time.

I can definitely see the reasoning behind the policy (as Peggy explains it), and I'd say that it does have a certain merit—as long as it doesn't become so rigid that it eventually calls for the formation of an "Inquisition" to burn heretics and transgressors at the stake (or smite them hip and thigh and cast them hence), which, all too often, policies of this sort can escalate into. Or become a sort of "ethic" which some singers can use to beat other singers over the head. I have found that among folk music aficionados, one does find a certain percentage who like to harbor a sort of "purer than thou" attitude. I guess you find folks like that in just about every field of endeavor (feelings of inadequacy and insecurity, I suspect). I think Jesus called them "Pharisees."

This, I think, is not a half-bad idea:    "Incidentally, along with this policy came the request from our newly-formed Audience Committee that we not sing the same traditional song more than once every three months… they were getting tired of hearing the same songs week after week. This forced us residents to learn new songs at an unholy rate. But it brought out lots of new songs and ballads and really got us thinking about how we sang what we were learning."

But I must confess that when I read words like "Audience Committee" and "Critics Group," I tend to wince more than just a little.

As for my own singing, I do a wide variety of songs: a fair amount of English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh songs (never been to the British Isles, sad to say), but probably the bulk of my repertoire is made up of American and Anglo-American songs. I do logging songs (never been a logger), sea songs and chanteys (the only times I've been on a sailing ship was as a passenger), and—well, you get the picture.

When learning a song, I don't particularly think of using dialect or accent, I just sing it pretty much as I heard it. As time goes by, I'm sure I make changes in the way I sing it, just like everyone does. But I rarely "study" an accent. It just seems to come naturally. If I run into an unfamiliar word in a Scottish song, say, I already know how it's pronounce because I've just heard it, but I make sure I find out what it means so I know what I'm singing about. I've never had anyone, even hard-charging purists, jump me about "using a phony accent." I have, however, heard people putting on an accent, generally one that is appropriate to the song, but not doing it very well.

But I am not a "folk singer." I am a singer whose repertoire consists mostly (but not exclusively) of folk songs.

Don Firth