I mainly perform trad and contemporary Irish Ballads, when I started I suffered badly with Stage fright. The only thing that helped me was, initially I knew quite a bit about the song Raglan Road, it's history, the writer, who recorded it etc. So gradually I began to research at least some history of every song I sing (370 total so far) and I would work out a little story/description to relate before singing it. People started to say how much they enjoyed this aspect and it's pretty much cured my stage fright and having researched the songs so well, I'm sure it helped my delivery as well, I feel I can put more passion and feeling into the songs I sing, and I extended this to other music like Country and folk.

So my advise is firstly concentrate on what music you are most interested in, you can find pretty much all you need to know on the internet, If you perform as well then interweave your narrative between your songs/tunes. When I watch other performers I'm always more interested when they tell one something about the song/tune, likewise there are many who just sit and play with no introduction and I find it hard who warm to those. If you enjoy your subject that will be reflected in your talk or performance. Audiences like to come away feeling they learned something. Hope that helps

Desi C
The Circle Folk Club
Coseley U.K