"For saying that Jeannie sang too slowly"
It has been claimed that Jeannie slowed down her songs after collectors/folk club audiences praised to the skies her "magnificent, slow dignified way of singing". The early recordings would back that up.
"I really prefer too slow over too fast"
Both are equally a problem if you approach them in such generalised terms. Surely the contents of the ballad should indicate the speed.
One of the side effects of being over-awed by the ballads is that some singers treat them all like epics, which they are not.
A couple of years ago I unwisely got into an argument with somebody whose work I respect very much, when he was taking a singing class.
The message he appeared to be passing on was that all ballads should be taken slowly His example was a two verse fragment, full of motion and action. The result IMO was a caricature.
Jim Carroll