SD, Richard Thompson. Okay extremely popular, very talented.
Taking the very basics of what a ballad is in folksong terms, yes it could creep in, it seems to be telling a story, the bits I could follow anyway. What detracted from what we expect of a ballad are the vocal gymnastics and the elaborate accompaniment. One of the main characteristics of the big ballads is that they tell the story in an impersonal way in the third person. The narrator is generally not part of the story, merely an observer.Please don't take this as a criticism of the performance: I enjoyed the video. A modern ballad? Yes! But it has little in common with the older folk ballads.