As someone who crosses the ocean quite a bit to hang with our folk brethren in the Isles, I see this as a PERFECT opportunity to discuss folk in the US vs folk in Britain and Ireland, especially when talking about singing and the singing tradion.

I apologise for generalising here; I may be wrong (and I hope I am), but in my own experience, I DO see a much bigger nod to the singing tradition in British songwriters than in my US songwriting brothers and sisters. It's the rare Amereican s/s that gives the nod to the tradition or, as my good friend Barry states above that they perform anything other than their own compositions.

The other thing I notice in UK and Irish-based songwriters is that the writing is usually based in the roots of the tradition, be it Scottish, British or Irish and is obvious (especially with the UK based s/s that I am familiar with: George P., Caddick, Tilston, Napper/Bliss, Lister and even some of the floor singers I encounter at the UK folk clubs) that they have listened to the old songs and know them intimately. With a few exceptions, I don't hear that in a lot of American singer/songwriters' performances.

Just speaking from my own experience,
Deb