Jack I do not see why you consider that by me not mentioning a concertina project it alters the discussion.

Because it seemed from what you said that you were trying to document the geographical variations in concertina playing, the way Planet Squeezebox did. In which case the only consideration is where the players are performing - if there's a volume that purports to be about concertina playing in Ireland, then somebody playing Irish music in the US doesn't belong there, even if they spent their entire previous life in Ireland and just got off the plane in the US the day before.

Instead you fired off a series of questions with extremely negative presuppositions, each one of which has been the start of interminably tedious discussions here. In effect you were blackmailing us to agree with you or be drowned in verbiage. Fuck that, if you want to classify anyone who might give the answers you don't like as a "snob" then I'm happy to be one. Rather that than a manipulator.

And re Steve Shaw's message: another classical singer I've heard do an English-language folksong well was Rita Streich. The difference was that she was genuinely witty, with comic timing that underlined the words perfectly. She did NOT just use the song as a medium for showing off her tone as your "clear, strong voice rings out beautifully" describes. There is a lot more to it than that. (Streich's accent wasn't native-speaker perfect, but so what - she got nearer to one kind of Scots accent than Ferrier did to any kind of Northumbrian in her most famous number).