Funnily enough for me there's been an inverse proportion to singing in a "traditional folk manner" and the seriousness and interest I've put into delving into the repertoire and tradition. I'm singing less and less "folkily" I would never have imagined a couple of years ago that I'd be spending money on 4th-hand musty old tomes and getting excited about discovering songs about foxes, or what are in effect 17th century adverts for a pub (to mention two random things I've been trying recently).

I probaly listen to Harry Cox, Walter Pardon, Cyril Poacher and others of a similar era than anything else at the moment, but even though I spend more and more time listening to them, I don't feel comfortable trying to sing like them. I think you can take subtle things from such singers - attitude more than anything, but also certain emphases, certain inflections, ornaments – and use them subtly. I think you can come unstuck if you try to go the whole hog.