seconded, Pip! I'd always far rather hear people's own accent in their singing too, otherwise to me it feels like they are putting on something fake - presumably either to be a faithful copy of the CD they learned the song off or to sing 'in the accent of' wherever the song comes from. Not sure why you would want to do that? - regional accents vary so much and just because a song was collected in a particular place at a particular time it doesn't mean it wasn't song elsewhere and elsewhen by people with other accents. Trying to faithfully recreate an accent is surely only one step away from also trying to faithfully recreate costume and instrumentation too, and before you know it you've joined a historical re-enactment society...

If I learned an american song or a scottish song (I am english with a not strongly regional but more northern than southern accent) I would feel I was taking the piss to start putting on an american or scottish accent - besides the fact that I am not good enough at accents anyhow to get it right - and anyhow, surely if accent is the key then it would be just as inappropriate to sing a song from Maine with a Texan accent or a song from the Outer Hebrides with a Glaswegian accent as it would be to sing either in my own voice?

All that said, Faye, it's your performance, of songs you have chosen, and if you want to sing them in any accent you damn well please, that is up to you!

Originally, you said The point being made was that, as an outsider, I could never give a convincing performance of a British song. My take is that, if you haven't heard me speak, you wouldn't know where I come from so what difference does it make?

I would query the word 'convincing' - what did the person you were talking to mean by that? If they meant 'sing it and sound like you're english' then if you're good at accents then yes you can - although if you are doing a bit of chat between songs, then it'd quickly become apparent that you were singing in a different accent to your speaking voice... if they meant 'sing it (english accent or not) and make your audience believe in it as a song' then of course you can, no person or region or country 'owns' traditional material and you can pretty much always find a way of performing it from the heart that will speak to your audience regardless of accent or country of birth or anything else. Of course if your song is long the lines of 'I'm a jolly englishman, look at how english I am' then I suppose it might be quite funny delivered by somebody who wasn't english but even so you might be choosing to go for the comedy angle... :)

Final point from me - there are PLENTY of performers out there who do, to my mind, deliver very convincing performances of english songs while blatantly not being english themsleves - James Fagan and Mudcat's own George Papavgeris are two who spring to mind. And, amusingly, Nancy Kerr who is from NE England but has spent a lot of time in Australia now has a distinct aussie twang to her speaking voice and performs both Australian material and her native English in her own, to my mind perfectly convincing, accent, which has hints of both australian and geordie...