"The focus in this thread on the single issue of who did or didn't compose what we have come to call 'traditional songs' obscures the width and depth of this book."
The width and depth of the book calls into question the subject matter - folk song - and whether it exists apart for other genres of song
Until that is sorted out, it makes it impossible to make a fair assessment of the book
If we are talking about the music of the people we have to know what part the people created in producing that music
Roud spends a fair amount of space discussing glees, which owe more to Hndel than they do to the people
Music Hall is where they went to passively be entertained rather than to express themselves
The London singing Taverns, raised by Roud and Gardham, were, according to authority, Selenick, the haunts of middle class gentlemen, the broadsides were town based while our folk songs are mainly the probable creations, certainly entertainments or the rural working people.
For me, the secondary problem with Roud's book is that it is an excellent work marred by irrelevant clutter that helps obscure the real subject.
For me, the book is a welcome addition as an essential reference work (with qualifications)
What it lacks, for me, is the proselytizing zeal of Lloyd's book (for all its faults)
It also lacks the love and warmth that helped put a lifetime's worth of petrol in my tank
Jim Carroll