love the songs but struggle with "traditional" presentation.

I'm presently toying with a thread, something along the lines of Ballad Style & Presentation, the intention being to explore the relationship between Revival and Traditional approaches to ballad singing. Where is this thread? I hear you ask. Well, fearful of endless mudcat-slinging, hysteria, insults & premature closure I'm sitting on it just now.

When asked, however, my advice is to first listen to (and reverence) the traditional singers (the Child Ballads in the Max Hunter Folk Song Collection is as good a place as any to start) and, second, to simply do what feels best. There are no rights and wrongs - a passion for ballads is the main qualification to be a ballad singer, and I would think (& hope) there are no limits in terms of presentation as such, despite the nonsense one hears on the matter, which is enough to put off even a seasoned balladeer like myself, hem hem. I would think, Banjiman, you are more than qualified to take the plunge.

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Rapunzel & I have got a few ballad currently playing on our myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/venereumarvum:

The Cruel Mother - live demo. From the singing of Mrs Pearl Brewer of Pocahahtas, Arkansas in the Max Hunter Archive.

The Wax Baby (The Witch Mother / Willie's Lady - live demo. Lacking a traditional tune (and eschewing Ray Fisher's Son Ar Chistre setting) I set this to a fragment of a Finnish lullaby which has further evolved over the years.

Alison Gross - a performance recording from one of our Fylde 2008 sets; Rapunzel sings to a Shruti Box drone, I sing chorus harmony and play dumbek & three-hole pipe.

King Orfeo - a dark-ambient rendering from 2002 in direct homage to Archie Fisher, featuring Saga Brass & subliminal spectral leakages by way of empowerment of the archetype.      

I've also got a couple of ballads on my myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/sedayne) presently:

King Orfeo - live demo, sung simply, self-accompanied on a Tibetan Singing Bowl.

Wife of Usher's Well - live demo, intoned whilst freely-improvising on adapted fretless guitar, with singing bowl & electronic Shruti Box.