Boy has this thread run and run?

I can tell you why I sing in an accent not my own? It's not an affectation, I don't talk between songs like I'm Steve Earle's cousin. And I don't want anyone to think I'm 'Merkin.

With me (and I think with some others) it's because I am not a natural singer and if doing a cover or whatever I sort of default to the accent I heard it in originally. Gotta be honest though if I am covering a Billy Bragg or Chris Woods song I become far more aware of trying not to sound like a mockney cockney than if I am covering say Darrell Scott. I think this probably has to do with what is generally accepted in many forms of music?

I was quite interested to read recently that Woody Guthrie's wife commented on the fact (as she saw it) that Bob Dylan's distinctive singing style was him copying how Woody sang. More than that she argued that Dylan copied how Woody sang after he became ill with Huntington's, and that he (Woody) was always precise with his phrasing and clear with his singing until ill; and that Dylan was copying how he sounded at the start the start of his illness?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6S7agOnOTE