"People sang the songs that we're discussing in various situations, but mostly either in private or among their fellows. "
Is that how you regard collecting - recording private conversations?
Certainly not in our job description
We spent thirty years sitting in farm kitchens and caravans, face to face with the people we recorded and actively questioning them on their songs, often intensely
We did so at their invitation and mainly with their encouragement
What little we know about traditional singing is based on that approach.
What the lady with her notebook and pencil was doing was eavesdropping - her accusation of "intrusion into people's privacy" was exactly what she was advocating.

"For examples of Roud bringing things up to date"
Your two lists from Roud are interesting
All the people on list two have produced articles on the material they were ollecting
I'm not aware that any on the top list (not sure about Vic) spent any real time questioning traditional singers face-to-face - if they have, I have come across no accounts of it.
One of the largest gaps in our knowledge is a total lack of input by the people who actually gave us these songs (with few notable exceptions), yet all, in our experiences, had plenty to say, when invited to do so.
This redefinition is based on the opinions and tastes of largely desk-bound academics

Jeannie Robertson's missed opportunity of a book is a good example
Hershel Gower makes a magnificent job of painting a picture of this important singer's life using her own words.
The analysis of the songs and their function is left to James Porter.
There is nothing wrong with Porter's analysis as far as I can judge, but for me, it lacks a certain.... something

For all the criticisms against it, I found MacColl and Seeger's book on The Stewarts far more satisfying - there was a far greater input by the family members - in fact, the authors got into hot water for putting too much in.

It has been suggested before I write a book - I doubt if that will ever happen
My object it to make available what we have collected, especially what the singers had to say, and make sure all the recordings we have gathered over half a century will go to somewhere that will guarantee their survival as an archive - we're nearly there in Ireland with that one.

I have become somewhat obsessed with the idea that the Irish singing scene needs some attention if it is going to reach the heady heights of the instrumental situation - hence my project on Irish Child Ballads
The next step is try to shift singing classes away from handing out song sheets to something a bit more substantial - we'll see what happens with that

The only 'book' I have in mind is a collection of Traveller songs, stories and interviews - now a possibility
As a retired electrician I still have a full and busy life in front of me, if not a long one
I have been working on a far-too-long article in fits and starts, possibly entitled 'Hack or Haymaker - who made our folk songs', but I keep wondering if it's worth taking time over - why not let people make their own minds up?

I have recently archived scripts of the forty-plus talks we have given as researchers since we started
One of the things I am most proud of is that they all give precedence to what the singers, storytellers and musicians had to say rather than what we had to say about them
That's worth putting your name to as far as I'm concerned.

"Currently I'm Sunday morning scruffy, "
Wear your uniform with pride
Jim