One of the most fascinating aspects of talking to the older singers was the number of times they described their getting pictures of the characters and locations of the songs, particularly the ballads. One Traveller compared it to sitting in the cinema.
Another, a blind Travelling woman with a fair number of big ballads, became so moved that she occasionally broke down, describing the songs as 'too heavy'. Despite being blind from birth, she gave us full descriptions of the characters in her ballads, what they were wearing, where the action too place, colours....
I came across this recently from the American ballad singer, Texas Gladden:

Texas Gladden spoke of having an image in her mind for every part of these old stories. "I have a perfect mental picture of every song I sing. I have a perfect picture of every person I learned it from, very few people I don't remember. When I sing a song, a person pops up, and it's a very beautiful story. I can see Mary Hamilton, I can see where the old Queen came down to the kitchen, can see them all gathered around, and I can hear her tell Mary Hamilton to get ready. I can see the whole story, I can see them as they pass through the gate, I can see the ladies looking over their casements, I can see her as she goes up the Parliament steps, and I can see her when she goes to the gallows. I can hear her last words, and I can see all just the most beautiful picture."

Jim Carroll