"I think it no accident that two of the greatest of folksingers, Ewan MacColl & Theo Bikel,"
Can't speak for Theodor Bikel Mike - my memory of him is a multi-language album not long after I became involved in folk; seem to remember him being a somewhat polished singer who didn't really leave much of an impression - sorry, probably being very unfair.
Ewan's connection between singing and acting was a somewhat complicated one. Don't know what he was like as an actor, but I know that he used Stnislavski's acting techniques to get a singer to connect with a song rather than to perform it - to internalise the song and make it part of them, using things like 'emotion memory' and 'application of the idea of 'if''.
His 'bible' in runnng the Critics Group was Stanislavski's An Actor Prepares. He in no way advocated a singer acting out a song, or using theatrical techniques, but to bring a song to the singer rather than a singer to the song.
It was quite a difficult process to get used to, but when it worked, I saw some of the most electrifying performances from some not very experienced singers using this method.
People have often accused MacColl's singing of being 'theatrical' - I have to say that, apart from some very early recordings, I never really saw this (though I do have a fascinating recording of him singing 'The Death of Hector' made for the BBC some time in the forties, I think) .
I don't really think accent has very much to do with this, except that, for me anyway, singing in an accent other than your own, or one you are not very familiar with, has the effect of not only externalising the song, but of holding it at arms length.
Happy to discuss this fully, but will have to sleep on it first (or rather, to have several pints, then sleep on it) - it's been a long time.
Another thought - when we started recording in Ireland, we got a load of very singable songs, but I avoided putting them in my repertoire because of my fear of sounding 'Oirish'.
The same with my love of Scots ballads; I spent most of my life listening to them but not singing them because I felt my Liverpool accent (now all but disappeared) didn't suit them.
Over the latter years I have taken to Anglicising the songs I like, and nowadays, now I am not singing as much, these are the ones I fall back on in sessions. Most of them (but not all) work perfectly.
Now where did I put that Guinness?
Jim Carroll