There is an old Scots saying, "Hard work's no easy". Learning songs is all down to hard work.

I do not recomend crib sheets other than the song titles or introduction facts, you will come to depend on them and they will become part of the song. Without your bit of paper you won't know wither Lord Randal was the baddy or the daddy, whither your on the Road to Drumlinin or the Rocky Road To Dublin.

Learn YOUR songs the way YOU sing them NOT how you heard THEM on that CD. You have to learn the words AND the breathing AND the phrasing AND the timing, you've got to sell this song, put it over, perform it. Always introduce your songs, the talking sets up your listeners more than you and can get you off to a rolling start. And remember, never to be yourself when you sing. Become a BIGGER VERSION of yourself, a more confident assured persona, big enough to hide in. Most of the listeners don't know you so it's great what you can get away with. But only turn the wick up a wee bit, just a shade. Remember have fun it is what it is all about.