Alan Lomax, Penguin Book of American Folksongs, in the introduction to Section I - YANKEE SONGS, says this of the style of the come-all-ye singers:

Often he spoke the last half-line to signify he had come to the end of the ballad, as is still the practice in some parts of Ireland today. Indeed, from very early days until the present, the singing Irishman has been the principal singer and song-maker in the north.