"So what do I do? Well, what I don't do is try and put on a broad "American" accent - from what part of America would it be, in any case? It just sounds phoney On the other hand, some sort of accentuation is necessary because the language, the dialect, argot - whatever you call it - demands it. The example from Nigel above with Scots song illustrates the point. The closest I get to an American accent is a very mild version of Doc Watson's accent when singing - and then just enough (I hope) to do the song justice."

Yes indeed Will. I used to sing American songs with an unapologetically uncompromised London English accent - and I still think that this is generally a better direction to go in than a phoney-sounding American one. However, as a result of listening to myself on recordings over the years, I now do deliberately soften & Americanise certain words and do allow myself a bit of Mid-Atlantic here and there.

It just works better, makes the whole performance sound less than some kind of agenda.

Duster Bennett in my opinion got a very good UK/US compromise in his blues singing.