but then they lose their identity as ballads.

What is the identity of a ballad? Or indeed a Folk Song? I would argue that that identity must always be entirely subjective. In the present case it came from The Rymes of Robyn Hood - An Introduction to the English Outlaw by RB Dobson and J Taylor (Sutton 1989) that turned up remaindered in the old SPCK in Durham circa 1991 when Thor Ewing & I were working on a project of Robin Hood songs and ballads. I read them all, but the only one that really moved me was The Birth of Robin Hood from Jamieson's Popular Ballads and Songs 1806. As no traditional tune was extant, I set it to the medieval Adam de la Halle melody from his Play of Robin and Marion (which doesn't concern Robin Hood as such) and so the song came alive - for us at least, because that meant we could sing it. Rachel and I revisited it in 2002 when we were doing a wee tour with Julie Tippets & Martin Archer and it evolved to more or less the way we do it now; which is to say Rachel added a harmony and the whole flow of thing then hung on the dynamic of the narrative with respect of that harmony, and how we sing together anyway.

Note here, Jim - this ballad does not exist as part of anything you would think of (or recognise) as a Tradition. There are no field recordings of anyone singing it, much less any record of what the tune might have been, nor, indeed, how it was sung. I had heard no revival reconstructions nor anything else that was in any way Folk with respect of it. All I had was an unsullied text from 1806 which I set to a melody from the 13th century, thus the Identity of this particular ballad is 50% creative process & discovery and 50% the joy that comes in singing the thing afresh each time we do it. Living with a ballad for 20 years it becomes part of your creative soul; it becomes a vehicle for all sorts of interpretations, not one of them is ever definitive; it lives, it breathes, in all sorts of ways. That is the identity of the ballad. And nothing is lost.

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Discussion of people's work is not telling them what to do, it's part of the to-and-fro of the learning process

Absolutely; I agree with this 100%, and strive to facilitate such discussion as a broader part of the learning process, both personally and generally. However, comments like:

which is apparently why you have learned nothing.

contradict that learning process and reveal a more reactionary & reactive agenda on your part. You are not qualified to be a Folk Policeman, Jim - nor even a Folk CSO - rather you are the mindless bouncer on the door of your ideal fantasy folk club, refusing entry to anyone who fails to meet with your highly selective & ill-informed criteria.

As I have always said, I'm not bothered about being cutting edge, much less breathing new-life into old songs. For me it's the other way round - the New Life is already in the Old Songs - it's part seance, part communion - and whatever happens, happens. With this in mind, and on this the 31st of October, I give you my latest Post-Folk solo take on this old chestnut which is all about the narrative:

The Wife of Ushers Well (Child #79)