This is a minor aside in relation to a comment above regarding possible forced and conscious affectation of 'accent'.

With the (very few!) Scottish ballads I've learned so far, I've spent some time considering this question. For I neither wish to artificially fake an accent, *or* completely ignore the dialect within which the song is very naturally buried, and from which its words and meaning are forged.

So with those I've learned, I've looked at different (Anglo/Scots) versions, and tried for a middle way. That is singing the song naturally with my own voice/accent, in accordance with what I've got it writ on the page (or cobbled from other singers versions), while simultaniously heeding the specific peculiarities of dialect (rather than 'accent' as such).

Of course, whatever I do or don't do, to a Scottish person it'll always sound like an English person singing a Scottish song. But IMO that's OK, 'cos very simply, that's the honest fact of the matter!