Jim,

It's not that his parent didn't know traditional ballads, that has nothing to do with attributing fully formed ballads to fragments and dim recollections. He might have remembered his father's singing-- these familial attributions are something that happen to perpetuate traditional versions as being completely "traditional". There are only so many ballads a singer knows from his family. I have made no detailed study- but it has been something I've sensed for a while. I have no problem with ballad recreation- only with ballad recreations that are attributed as traditional- the numbers are staggering.

John Jacob Niles learned a number of ballads from his father :)

Anne,

My postulation is that when writers refer to a ballad going back to an original print version, they are actually referring to, in some cases, a traditional version that has been printed. Obviously some print versions are merely copies or edited copies of another print version.

Richie