Are we really carrying on the 'tradition' by learning songs from aged singers?

A song sung by someone in their youth can sound very different to one sung by someone in their dotage and IMHO many of the Kennedy recordings are the worst examples of traditional singing. One problem I had with the singing of Peter Bellamy was that he sounded like a ninety year old.
Yes, he was truly following his sources but I much prefer a young person to sing like a young person. One might use the same arguement in the way the (YOUNG) Copper Family interpret their family songs.

I realise that holding such views is likely to get me hung drawn and quartered.

As older manuscripts and broadsides become more available it is increasingly more possible to discover what original songs must have sounded like both in tune and content. I recently obtained a book of English Songs containing both words and music that was printed in 1811.

Apart from the changes made by the collectors in the past, publishers and the singers themselves had a hand in modifying 'traditional' material.

There is also the question of 'source singers'. Fred Jordon is often used as an example, yet he would admit to having learned songs from gramophone records - a source we have all used at some time in our singing career.