Style is a dodgy thing Cap'n - it varies from place to place and quite often it can obsure the main function of our songs, the passing on of the narrative - information, whatever you care to call it. The Irish revival is extremely style driven, often at the cost of the narrative - I have heard it said that some of our most stylish singers could make the Munster telephone directory sound beautiful.
One of my favourite quotes comes from the jazz film ''Round Midnight'. The young, technically very acomplished player plays his piece for the veteran musician, and the old man says "Your notes are fine, but where's your story?"
Not disagreeing with you, just adding a "but".
Sorry - sticky keyboard (and anxiety to get out to the local session) led to a couple of typos in my posting. Mary Delaney has a repertoire of around 200 songs and the pop singer I mentioned was, of course, Shane McGowan.
Jim Carroll