"His point was that MacColl interpeted the ballad in EXACTLY the same way, it was well rehearsed but lacked any spontaneity"
Simply not the case.
I listened to MacColl From 1962 - he constantly re-worked his songs - not from week-to-week (as your example appears to imply necessary), but until the songs began to get stale - as all repeated songs eventually do.
It was part of the work we did, breathing new life into older items of our repertoire.
When the songs ceased to work entirely he replaced them with other versions.
He actually wrote an article on the subject in one of the early folk magazines using The Bonnie Earl O' Moray as his example - have it archived somewhere.
One of the great flaws in this particular 'Myth' is that one of the requests made of all Singers Club residents (I know this to have been re-iterated regularly as I was a member of the audience committee who helped to run the club) was that residents were requested not to repeat songs over a period of three months so the audiences were constantly being presented with new material - Ewan and Peggy were sticklers at adhering to this in their own performances.
The only exceptions to this practice were the newly composed political pieces on current subjects (miners, Viet Nam, CND etc...)
I don't know where your anonymous quote comes from but it seems to have about the same veracity as the one about the singer stopped mid-song for singing in an American accent.
I really wasn't going to bother doing this but - as you have spent so much time telling us how good and experienced a singer you are, and as you are joining the mob who are still corpse-kicking someone who is unable to defend himself and his ideas because he snuffed it over twenty years ago....
I have just made a point of re-listening to some of your own material on U-tube
I find you to be a proficient singer, no major problems musically, either in handling song tunes or accompaniment - certainly not offensive in any way, but, to my ear, rather uninteresting; the reason being that you treat all the songs I listened to so similarly that it was difficult to distinguish between them - same dynamic, same weight, same tonal delivery... all rather samey, which is what you (via your anonymous informant) seems to be what you are accusing my dead frend and benefactor of.
As you have been as generous as you have been in putting me in my place, I am sure you will take my advice in the spirit is offered - as a desire to help.
Jim Carroll