"Surely the concept of what I want here isn't too difficult to understand."

It's not difficult to understand, but it's very difficult to satisfy. Mainstream modern pop music is such a world away stylistically from traditional song and balladic storytelling that it's hard to imagine any popular artist outside the more esoteric fringes making a go of it. The High Kings, mentioned above, are doing the same kind of thing as the Clancy Brothers were doing fifty years ago and, though it's great that Kristoffer has found a way into traditional song through their music, most of Mousethief's high school class would find them as alien as any Bob Dylan track.

I tend to agree with Jim Carroll here. Rather than look for a modern celeb to 'sell' the concept, you could try the approach of saying "just listen to this great story" and let the ballad speak for itself.

The suggestion of Anna and Elizabeth was a good one too. Although, again, kids raised on modern pop are going to find their sound pretty weird, they are young performers who mix traditional authenticity with a youthful desire to experiment.

We have to remember that, even in the days when Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span were attracting young audiences with electric settings of old ballads, they were still a minority interest when compared to 'chart' artists of their day. Young listeners have often been attracted to folk precisely because it's non-mainstream and a bit weird.