When I was resident at Dingles Folk Club circa 1977/8, I often used to MC the club and one night I had the honour of MC-ing and meeting Walter Pardon. I saw his singing style first hand and also his rapport with an audience (a very large one as I remember). He received an extended round of applause at the end of the night.
I found Walters singing style a pleasure to hear, and his approach was much the same as Bob Lewis and Bob Copper, both of whom I met that same year. The Irish in me makes me lean toward the likes of Joe Heaney and Len Graham, and a more lyrical approach with decoration and structural variation. Walter Pardons legacy can be heard in the singing of Damien Barber, Andy Turner Ron Taylor and of course Dick Miles, who take that straight forward unadorned approach to singing that can be so effective. (but not when I try it unfortunately)
Walter Pardon was so very unusual in that he was a relatively modern singer with a huge repertoire of songs, the likes of which had only been found a century earlier in the repertoires of Henry Burstow, or some of the West country singers note by Sharp, Gardiner and Hammond.
Walter always had that extra verse that no-body else had.
The only affectation he used in his singing was his trademark descending intonation at the end of every verse of just about every song. His pacing is a lesson in restraint, and every word is delivered as if it matters, which of course it does. Bellamy believed that Walter Pardon had been ignored by the revival,(related in conversation to me) however I feel Peter was getting rapidly more and more disillusioned as we all know to our cost.
Dig that CD out and listen to Walter again. I always find it worth the effort.