Fascinating thread. I always understood 'mid-Atlantic' to be shorthand (shortspeak?) for cod-American. People can affect whatever accent they like, of course (and many do) - I've even been known to get more Deb'n at times. However, an 'assumed' American accent is the first reason many 'wannabe booked' english artists' demo CDs go in the bin: we simply don't book performers who can't be bothered to use their own accents.