Urban people, not particularly skilled as poets and living outside of the subjects of our folk songs - all of which makes them highly unlikely as possible authors,
Who better to suspect of making sea songs than someone who has actually worked at se
The same goes for agricultural work, soldiering, mining, weaving (Jim Carrol)

How about urban people who left school at 15 "joined the ranks of the unemployed ... found intermittent work in a number of jobs and also made money as a street singer (Wikipedia)" but became skilled poets and talked to the people who had done those things ?