"instrumental break that echos and builds the feeling of the song"
Sound somewhat like a theatrical rather than a narrative device to me - I have yet to hear instrumental breaks be anything other than interruptions to a narrative and the longer the break, the greater the interruption, but maybe that's just personal taste.
Can I add that I feel the same way about the over-use of vocal ornamentation.
I now live in Ireland where there can be a tendency to over-decorate, which can be very beautiful, but often strips the song of its narrative qualities.
When we started recording the old singers in here in Clare, which is now our home, while, for various reasons, ornamentation tended to be sparse, the repertoires included many narrative songs, including songs and ballads from England and Scotland - particularly ballads.
In the latter half of 20th century it was found that 50 Child Ballads were still to be found from source singers, including several that had entirely disappeared in mainland Britain.
Nowadays, these narrative songs are rarities, though a recent project by Wexford couple, Aileen Lambert and Michael Fortune, backed by the National Library of Ireland, (Man, Woman and Child) has breathed new life into the old ballads.
It seems have been very much a case of "use them or lose them".
Jim Carroll