I was going to stay out of this one on the grounds of total indecisiveness, but I've just noticed a namecheck amongst the posts above, so will wade in.

Fyldeplayer wrote:
"Couple of years ago I attended interesting 'talk' by Brian Peters illustrated by a succession of 'old' recordings of source singers most of whom were poor singers (subjective opinion), but clearly had made a contribution to the 'folk' world...
Isn't it part of the folk charm? I find super sweet note perfect voices boring"

Most of the source recordings I play at workshops are chosen because I believe the singers are (or were) masters of their craft, with the odd exception like Billy Buckingham's 'Waysailing Bowl' (on Voice of the People) which I play because it's a great example of an uninhibited, inebriated good time. I defy anyone to say that Phil Tanner's 'Henry Martin' isn't an outstanding vocal performance, but equally I can enjoy recordings that are less thrilling and less accurate than Tanner's. A technically 'poor' singer can still do a great job of putting a song across. And, as Fyldeplayer suggests, there's more to singing folk songs than sweetness and perfection. Many years ago I had a spirited spat in the local folk press with an individual who had reviewed the Copper Family along the lines of: "Well, of course they can't sing, but you can't deny their importance." I listen now to recordings of Bob Copper and find his singing quite beautiful, though it would never pass muster at Covent Garden. Different rules apply.

On the thread topic, I'm torn between a deep personal reluctance to deliver a put-down to any inexperienced and probably nervous singer, and the knowledge that some critical comments from the likes of Harry Boardman and Steve Mayne in my early years actually helped me a lot. I'm also torn between a longstanding belief in the egalitarian and mutually-supportive ideals of the old folk world (now gradually fading as artists are put on ever higher pedestals), and memories of floor singers so awful that you dreaded any 'member of the public' coming through the door. So no decisive answer from me, except to note that each of those traditional singers whose recordings I play had in common a complete committment to the song they were singing. And none of them used crib sheets - in fact some of them needed to hear a song only a couple of times to consider it learned.